• 


•. . 


THE  FODNTAIN  KLOOF, 


OB 


MISSIONARY  LIFE  IN  SOUTH  AFRICA. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

1334  CHESTNUT  STREET. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  L 

PAOl 

ITS  DISCOVERT 7 

CHAPTER  II. 
BIVOUAC 17 

CHAPTER  HI. 

NEWS    FROM    THE   NORTH 28 

CHAPTER  IV. 
A  SEEDLING  SETTLEMENT , 41 

CHAPTER  V. 
PHILIP  OWEN'S  PRINCIPLE .. 50 

CHAPTER  VI. 
LIKATLO'S  FEAR 61 

CHAPTER  VII. 
A  MIDSUMMER  CHRISTMAS 71 

CHAPTER  VIH. 

IN  THE  KRAAL 84 

3 


2228937 


4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE  IX. 

PAOB 

SOWING  SEED 94 

CHAPTER  X. 
SPOOR 106 

CHAPTER  XL 
THE  CAFFBE  COUNCIL 117 

CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  SILVER  OP  THE  CLOUD 131 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
MIDNIGHT  WATCH 141 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
KAMA'S  FAITHFULNESS 154 

CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  KARROO 163 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
CHAIN-LIGHTNING 176 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
FLIGHT  AND  DESERTION 185 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
MR.  VAN  SMIT 199 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  BOER  VROUWS 208 

CHAPTER  XX. 
ORAAFF  REYNET....  ..  219 


CONTENTS.  5 

CHAPTEE  XXI. 

MM 
"ONS  ABME  HEIDENEN" 229 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
ALSOA  BAY 241 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
BETHELSDORP 251 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
STARS  OP  THE  SOUTH 265 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
THE  BUSHMAN 274 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
THE  CHRYSALIS 287 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
IN  THE  THIRST-LAND 296 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
WITCHCRAFT 307 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
A  SALT-PAN 316 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
SABBATHS  AHONG  THE  HEATHEN 32<J 

CHAPTER  XXXL 
THE  BALALA  FOUNDLING 338 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
AMONG  THE  NAMAQUAS 349 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

PAOB 

WALFISCB  BAT 361 

CHAPTEE  XXXIV. 
To  CAPE-TOWN 374 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Is  THE  SHADOW  op  TABLE  MOUNTAIN 383 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
AGAIN  "ON  THE  TREK" 395 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
LIGHT  FOR  THE  BECHUANAS 408 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
THE  KAIN-MAKER 419 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
FRENCH  MISSIONARIES 433 

CHAPTER  XL. 
AT  A  FORD 448 

CHAPTER  XLI. 
THE  GERM  OF  THE  STATION 457 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

GROWTH  OF  THE  MISSION-STATION 469 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 
AFTER  MANT  DATS....  ...  481 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 


CHAPTER    I. 

ITS    DISCOVERY. 

(^6^? T  is  noonday  in  a  Caffrarian  glen;  and  a 
December  noonday,  too,  yet  do  the  great 
gray  crags  rise  hotly  into  sunburnt  air,  and 
the  flowering  grasses  which  grow  among 
their  shadeless  summits  hang  flaccid  and  withering, 
for  this  December  is  the  parching  midsummer  of 
South  Africa. 

But  lower  down,  at  the  base  of  those  stupendous 
rocky  cliffs,  where  shade  and  moisture  are  com- 
moner, vegetation  again  asserts  itself  in  tropical 
luxuriance.  How  gloriously  do  the  golden  balls 
of  the  mimosa  glitter  innumerably  among  vivid 
green  foliage  !  Motionless  they  hang,  these  bril- 
liant flowers,  hour  after  hour  in  the  scorching  still- 
ness, unless  when  a  gorgeous  butterfly  alights  for 
a  moment  and  swings  to  and  fro  by  the  fluttering 

of  his  painted  wings. 

7 


8  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

The  wondrous  silence  of  Africa  is  over  the 
whole  scene;  no  voice  of  bird  issues  from  the 
abundant  eopsewood,  no  undercurrent  of  insect 
sounds  drones  low.  It  might  be  the  stillness  of 
a  pre- Adamite  world,  nay,  of  a  pre-animal  world, 
but  for  the  painted  butterflies  aforesaid  and  the 
emerald  sheen  of  a  lizard  which  has  stolen  forth 
to  lie  on  a  hot  slab  of  rock.  No  leaf  of  all  the 
foliage  stirs — Nature  is  in  her  siesta. 

Even  upon  the  stream,  which  ought  to  flow 
midway  through  the  kloof,  has  the  stillness  de- 
scended like  a  frost.  Its  broad  watercourse  of 
smooth,  flat  rock  is  empty  but  for  an  occasional 
pool.  Does  it  ever  rush  and  swirl  over  that 
strangely  artificial-seeming  pavement — rush  and 
bicker  like  our  mountain  streams  at  home  ?  Can 
any  copiousness  of  winter  showers,  which  are  June 
showers  here,  convert  it  into  an  exultant,  bounding 
torrent?  Or  does  African  stagnation  deaden  it 
always?  And  those  slumberous,  tepid  pools — do 
ever  the  shy  globe-eyes  of  the  antelope  reflect 
therein,  or  the  murderous,  dull  fire  of  the  maned 
lion's,  when  the  Southern  Cross  gleams  in  mid- 
night air? 

Enter,  upon  all  this  charmed  silence,  a  man. 

He  had  been  thinking  such  inquiries  concerning 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  9 

the  shrunken  stream  as  are  written  above ;  and 
when  the  idea  of  the  thirsting  wild  animals  cross- 
ed his  mind,  one  bronzed  hand  unconsciously  wan- 
dered to  the  butt  of  a  light  rifle  slung  on  his 
shoulder,  and  rubbed  there  in  a  monotonous  con- 
tentment of  motion,  and  the  blue  English  eyes 
rapidly  surveyed  thicket  and  glade  to  find  nothing 
that  could  move  except  the  leafage.  He  was 
facing  the  way  the  water  ran,  whenever  it  did  run, 
and  the  kloof  appeared  to  widen  farther  down 
from  a  gorge  into  a  valley,  park-like,  dotted  with 
clumps  of  full-foliaged  trees.  He  thought  he 
caught  a  momentary  sheen  of  water  off  there  too. 

It  was  a  fair  scene,  but  only  one  of  hundreds  of 
fair  scenes  which  he  had  come  upon  during  his 
rumbles  in  South  Africa.  Perhaps  he  was  a  little 
weary  now  of  the  monotony  of  strangeness  and 
sunshine,  for  he  began  to  remember  contempora- 
neous days  in  Britain — dull-lighted,  damp  days,  cut 
short  at  beginning  and  end,  terminating  in  cheery 
evening  homes ;  and  his  heart — a  strong  heart  at 
most  times — gave  a  quicker  throb  at  the  recollection 
that  he  had  turned  his  face  to  England,  and  was 
on  his  road  thither  after  three  years'  wandering. 

The  hand  which  has  been  playing  with  the  rifle 
seems  in  its  natural  place.  There  is  a  polish  of 


10  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

much  use  on  the  weapon.  Yet  is  that  hand  deli- 
cately shaped  and  small,  though  nearly  as  brown 
as  a  Caffre's ;  and  the  figure  to  which  it  belongs  is 
slight  and  small  likewise.  Mr.  Charles  Enfield  is 
no  ideal  Nimrod,  an  athlete  in  body  as  well  as  in 
daring.  You  would  scarce  think,  looking  at  him, 
that  he  has  bearded  leopard  and  lion  and  rhinoce- 
ros with  hardly  a  thickening  pulsation  at  the  im- 
minent death  before  him  if  his  shot  failed.  He  is 
the  hero  of  a  hundred  duels  with  fierce  beasts,  and 
he  has  spoils  enough  in  his  wagon  yonder  to  make 
even  the  king  of  the  forest  quake. 

I  should  not  say  that  even  these  triumphs  have 
satisfied  the  man,  to  judge  by  a  certain  cloudiness 
that  gathers  on  his  brow  and  is  visible  in  the 
slightly  puckered  frown  beneath  his  broad-leaved 
grass  hat.  "  Cui  bono  ?  What  avails  it  all  ?"  is 
a  question  that  will  arise  at  times  and  assert  itself 
as  unanswerable.  Excitement  can  scarcely  be  re- 
garded, even  by  the  most  thoughtless,  as  the  main 
object  of  life;  yet  Mr.  Charles  Enfield  knows  of 
none  other  at  present,  unless  it  be  the  fulfilment  of 
his  latest  purpose,  the  getting  home  to  England. 
He  knows  of  none  other,  for  he  has  tried  so  many 
aims  of  life  and  they  have  failed.  Fortune  is 
against  him,  he  says.  He  penned  an  Ode  to  Dis- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  11 

appointment  once,  of  the  most  dismal  description. 
However,  he  flatters  himself  he  has  outlived  that 
querulous  stage. 

Paved  with  wild  flowers  and  heaths  which  are 
the  wealth  of  English  greenhouses  is  this  kloof 
farther  on.  He  gathers  some  and  fixes  them  in 
his  belt  beside  his  silver-mounted  dagger.  Taking 
out  his  chronometer,  he  comes  to  some  conclusion 
respecting  time,  for  he  begins  to  retrace  his  steps. 
And  after  a  while,  rounding  the  farthest  shafted 
crag,  he  emerges  into  a  wider  part  of  the  defile, 
where,  under  a  clump  of  magnificent  cotton  trees, 
a  wagon  is  drawn  up.  The  unspanned  oxen 
browse  around  at  distances  or  chew  the  cud  stand- 
ing in  a  pool,  according  to  their  individual  fancies; 
and  various  men,  black,  brown  and  white,  are 
lying  asleep,  joining  Nature  in  her  siesta. 

Strictly  speaking,  there  is  but  one  white  man 
in  the  slumberous  company — a  black-bearded, 
strongly-built  person,  who  has  extemporized  a 
couch  from  some  packages  and  a  tent-cloth,  while 
his  uncivilized  associates  are  flung  among  the  grass 
in  every  attitude,  looking  like  charred  logs,  some 
of  them. 

As  Mr.  Enfield  passed  to  enter  his  wagon,  he 
spied  the  corner  of  a  small  book  peeping  from  the 


12  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

breast-pocket  of  the  sleeping  European's  gray 
blouse.  "  I  didn't  know  Gilbert  had  a  literary 
turn,"  was  his  reflection,  and  presently  he  was  sit- 
ting in  the  cool,  narrow  apartment  of  the  wagon, 
preparing  to  write  his  journal. 

All  about  him  are  the  spoils  whereof  we  spoke. 
Indeed,  the  exterior  arch  of  the  vehicle  is  appa- 
rently patched  with  skins,  hung  out  to  dry — beau- 
tiful brindled  and  spotted  zebra  and  panther  hides, 
long  giraffe  skins,  with  not  a  few  belonging  to 
lions.  The  inside  is  a  museum  of  curiosities. 
Rhinoceros'  horns,  tusks  from  the  river-horse  and 
the  elephant,  antlers  from  the  eland  and  the  koo- 
doo, jars  which  preserve  lizards  and  snakes,  mingle 
with  certain  implements  and  weapons  belonging  to 
the  natives;  and  these  are  mere  samples  of  the 
mass  of  such  things  which  the  hunter  has  stored 
away  in  his  boxes.  When  Mr.  Enfield  goes  home 
he  will  be  much  applauded ;  he  has  been  eminently 
successful. 

Yet  he  writes  in  his  diary  as  follows,  which  will 
be  expunged  and  remodelled  before  the  distin- 
guished sportsman's  notes  are  given  to  the  public : 

"Dec.  20. — Halted  before  noon  in  a  partially- 
shaded  kloof  and  out-spanned  the  oxen.  Spiral- 
crested  spurs  of  the  mountains  shut  in  a  chain 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  13 

of  valleys,  wider  or  narrower,  as  the  case  may  be. 
Empty  watercourse,  but  pools.  Walked  for  some 
two  miles  eastward  along  the  gorge,  and  reached 
a  broad  park-like  dale;  discovered  an  abundant 
spring  of  water  among  some  masses  of  rock ; 
almost  without  noise  it  wells  copiously  from  the 
mountain  side,  and  immediately  forms  a  stream 
some  yards  wide  and  half  a  foot  deep ;  seems  to 
be  perennial.  Called  the  place  Fountain  Kloof; 
beautiful  spot  for  settlement.  Mimosa,  camel- 
thorn  and  cotton-bushes  abound;  flowers  a  perfect 
carpet.  Saw  a  chameleon  near  the  spring.  Re- 
traced my  steps  to  the  wagon;  thermometer  in 
shade,  92°. 

"  Had  some  thinking  on  my  plans  as  I  walked 
up  the  kloof.  Rather  a  blue  look-out,  for  I  am 
tired  of  this  and  of  every  other  life,  so  far  as  I 
know.  Civilized  England  may  be  some  variety 
after  three  years  among  savages ;  and  I  shall  be  a 
bit  of  a  lion  at  first,  probably.  But  I  cannot  give 
adequate  reason  for  the  gnawing  ennui  that  at 
times  devours  me.  Those  black  fellows,  and  even 
Gilbert,  look  with  surprise  on  the  moodiness  which 
I  take  no  pains  to  conceal.  Is  there  any  satisfac- 
tion to  be  found  on  this  earth,  I  wonder  ? — any 
pursuit  or  pleasure  which  does  not  pall  in  the 


14  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

using?  I  was  made  for  something  better  than 
killing  wild  animals,  and  gathering  their  skins 
like  a  travelling  showman,  I  fancy;  but  what  shall 
it  be  ?  Three  years  ago  I  thought  that  the  noblest 
pursuit  in  creation,  and  have  to  the  very  uttermost 
enjoyed  it,  so  far  as  it  contained  enjoyment.  I 
sometimes  think  that  my  misfortune  has  been  ex- 
emption from  the  necessity  of  labour;  but  this 
presupposes  that  bread  and  butter  is  the  satisfying 
aim  of  life — a  proposition  I  deny.  There  must  be 
something  else,  some  unattained  good,  else  why 
this  restlessness?" 

Charles  Enfield  laid  down  his  pen,  and  looked 
out  through  the  arch  of  the  wagon  on  the  picture 
it  framed — the  delicate  outlining  of  distant  peaks 
and  crags  against  the  cloudless  heavens ;  the  beau- 
tiful masses  of  rare,  rich  foliage  clothing  the  ter- 
raced sides  of  the  glen.  He  the  sole  malcontent 
in  all  that  reposeful  scene  !  And  why  ?  He  knew 
not  that  it  was  because  his  life  wanted  to  be 
brought  into  harmony  with  the  life  of  God;  want- 
ed to  extend  itself  and  fill  its  birth-right  realm  of 
eternity ;  was  wearied  with  the  shortness  of  vision 
which  confined  its  gaze  to  the  nothings  of  time. 
It  was  because  his  starved  soul  must  assert  itself 
at  last. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  15 

The  diary  for  that  twentieth  of  December  ended 
with  the  trite  reflection — a  quotation  that  suggest- 
ed itself,  though  he  was  so  ill-read  in  Scripture  as 
to  be  unaware  of  its  origin : 

"  All  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit !" 

Starting  up  when  he  had  closed  the  book,  he 
seized  a  bugle  at  his  belt  and  blew  a  reveille. 
Gilbert  was  on  his  feet  in  an  instant;  the  Caffres 
began  to  rub  their  beady  eyes  and  roll  round  in 
the  grass  preparatory  to  perfect  awakening;  the 
patient  oxen  raised  their  stolid  heads  and  mildly 
watched  proceedings. 

"  Time  to  inspan  !"  shouted  Mr.  Enfield  from 
his  wagon.  "  Gilbert" — to  him  who  appeared  at 
the  shaft — "  I  must  reach  some  civilized  place  for 
Christmas  day — five  days  hence,  remember !  and 
that's  no  time  to  lose ;  so  look  sharp." 

African  doings  are  so  slow  that  the  fulfilment  of 
this  injunction  seemed  hard.  James  Gilbert  had 
to  collect  and  yoke  the  oxen — inspan  them,  as  it 
is  called — before  a  start  could  be  made ;  and  some 
of  the  beasts  had  rambled  half  a  mile  away,  and 
others  resisted  the  yoke.  There  was  a  good  hour 
spent  in  chasing,  struggling,  harnessing  the  heavy 
draught  animals. 

"  Sackaboni !"  called  Mr.  Enfield  to  a  coloured 


16  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

boy  who  led  up  the  first  pair  and  successfully 
yoked  them,  "  bring  my  horse." 

Three  were  fastened  to  the  trees  in  a  grove  close 
by,  where  they  had  eaten  down  a  circle  of  the  juicy 
underwood.  The  young  Caffre  grinned  and  ran 
to  obey.  His  peculiar  name  was  owing  to  his 
former  politeness  in  never  omitting  the  salutation 
"  good  day,"  which  in  the  Natal  tongue  is  express- 
ed by  "sackaboni,"  and  Mr.  Enfield  fastened  on 
him  the  designation,  which  gradually  supplanted 
his  native  name  of  Ketchawayo — perhaps  with 
advantage. 

"  The  lad  is  more  humanized  than  the  others," 
quoth  the  white  gentleman  to  himself,  as  he  watch- 
ed the  lithe  brown  figure  saddle  his  horse  as  care- 
fully as  a  groom,  and  without  bestowing  any  of  the 
gratuitous  kicks  and  blows  which  most  Caffre  ser- 
vants lavish  on  the  beasts  in  their  charge.  "  The 
most  teachable  savage  I've  met ;  but  they're  half 
animals — all  half  animals,"  concluded  Mr.  Enfield, 
from  his  European  height  of  superiority.  Did  he 
think  that  the  description  would  answer  for  many 
a  thousand  of  his  fellow-Englishmen,  brought  up 
in  the  land  of  Bibles  ? 


CHAPTER   II. 

BIVOUAC. 

T  last  the  ponderous  fourteen  were  under 
yoke,  and  proceeded  slowly  to  drag  along  the 
lumbering  wagon.  With  a  resounding  crack 
of  the  ox-whip,  which,  untravelled  reader, 
has  lash  long  enough  to  reach  the  noses  of  the  fore- 
most of  the  aforesaid  seven  pair  of  bullocks,  and 
the  report  of  which  can  be  heard  with  ease  at  a 
mile  and  a  half's  distance,  the  Hottentot  driver 
Jan  set  them  in  motion.  Behind  came  a  number 
of  pack-oxen  ridden  by  natives  of  various  shades, 
a  tail  of  whom  walked  in  the  extremest  rear,  some 
carrying  burdens.  For  you  see  Mr.  Enfield  was  a 
wealthy  sportsman,  and  could  afford  to  have  many 
camp-followers. 

"  Take  care  of  the  wheel,  you  fellows  !"  shouted 
the  master  of  the  cavalcade  from  his  steed  in  front. 
Of  course  there  was  nothing  like  a  road,  and  where 
the  kloof  narrowed  the  stony  watercourse,  with 
great  boulders  occasionally,  formed  rather  an  un- 


18  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

promising  track.  Supposing  a  wheel  broken  ?  they 
were  at  least  five  days'  journey  from  a  blacksmith 
or  wheelwright;  even  in  case  of  the  speediest 
mending  the  delay  would  be  unpleasant. 

So  Mr.  Enfield  watched  their  progress  with  some 
anxiety  and  care-knitted  brows,  and  had  certain 
blocks  turned  out  of  the  way  by  the  use  of  poles  as 
levers ;  yet  that  which  he  dreaded  befell  him  at  the 
narrowest  part  of  the  gorge,  just  before  it  widened 
into  the  dale  which  had  been  the  limit  of  his  walk. 
He  sprang  from  his  horse,  and  discovered  what  the 
natives  were  already  jabbering  about  to  each  other, 
the  wheel  in  a  mass  of  fragments. 

"  Now,  what's  to  be  done  ?"  he  turned  to  James 
Gilbert,  whose  hands  were  already  busy  refitting 
the  broken  pieces. 

"Sackaboni  chop  wood,"  observed  that  brown 
lad,  in  his  few  words  of  guttural  English,  into 
which  the  native  "click"  would  intrude.  "Sacka- 
boni chop  wood." 

"Then  go  and  do  it,"  said  Mr.  Enfield.  The 
boy  was  off  like  a  deer.  "  Now  I  wonder  if  the 
fellow  thinks  his  fingers  will  cut  down  a  tree?" 
observed  the  gentleman,  his  hands  deep  in  his 
pockets,  in  the  true  discontented-Englishman  atti- 
tude. "  There's  the  savage,  all  out.  No  fore- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  19 

thought,  no  power  of  provision  for  even  the  nearest 
future;  he  would  go  three  miles  for  a  hardwood 
tree,  and  at  the  foot  of  it  suddenly  remember  that 
he  had  no  axe." 

Gilbert  shouted  after  him.  And  in  the  interval 
before  his  coming  up  said,  "It's  lucky  they  don't 
make  these  like  our  English  wheels,  or  we  might 
stay  here  for  ever.  But  the  spokes  of  this  are 
bound  within  the  tire  by  wedges  at  the  nave;  and 
there's  only  —  let  me  see  —  three  of  the  spokes 
smashed." 

"Three!"  pronounced  Mr.  Enfield,  in  rather 
despairing  accents.  "  Then,  of  course,  we  are 
booked  to  outspan  here  for  the  night;"  and  he 
turned  on  his  heel  and  walked  away,  feeling  that 
he  could  not  speak  sharply  to  the  miserably  mean- 
looking  Jan,  the  Hottentot  driver,  who  had  been 
watching  his  every  movement  with  the  expression 
of  a  whipped  hound.  After  a  minute  Mr.  Enfield 
returned  with  his  rifle  in  his  hand. 

"  Gilbert !  remember  that  even  were  it  by  forced 
marches,  I  must  reach  some  farms  or  mission  sta- 
tion for  Christmas  day ;  it  sickens  me  to  think  of 
spending  it  among  savages." 

"Very  well,  sir,"  said  James,  busy  with  the 
broken  wheel;  and  having  produced  some  tools 


20  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

from  the  wagon,  his  handling  seemed  quite  profes- 
sional. He  had  been  a  carpenter  in  England. 

The  mending  was  not  finished  before  the  sun 
went  down  behind  the  spurs  of  the  mountains, 
gilding  with  his  last  light  the  naked  gray  marble 
peaks  afar  in  air.  Then  it  kindled  a  red  glow  in 
the  kloof  beneath,  which  brightened  among  the 
black  woods  till  the  fine  crackling  blaze  of  a  watch- 
fire  warned  all  leopards,  lions  or  other  night- walk- 
ing animals  to  keep  a  civil  distance. 

Before  it  had  attained  such  magnitude,  and 
while  yet  a  delicate  twilight  hung  about  under  the 
appearing  stars,  Mr.  Enfield  suddenly  issued  from 
the  copse  beside  the  party  of  chattering  natives,  all 
squatting  about  the  fire,  and  said  something  in 
.heir  own  tongue.  What  a  rush  !  What  an  out- 
burst of  voices  momentarily  hushed  by  his  pres- 
ence!' Sackaboni  hung  back.  . 

"  Why  don't  you  follow  them  ?" 

"  Musket,  master,"  pointing  to  the  wagon  ;  "  lion 
— tiger  smell  deer;"  and  he  backed  his  words  with 
significant  gestures.  And  as  Mr.  Enfield  noticed 
the  dark  sparkling  eyes  and  the  pictorial  language 
of  his  signs,  the  thought  recurred,  "He's  less  of  an 
animal  than  the  others,  and  this  is  a  bit  of  fore- 
thought, too." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  21 

Sackaboni  got  the  musket — one  he  had  been 
accustomed  to  use — and  set  off  in  high  glee. 

"They  were  talking  about  that  shot,  sir,"  ob- 
served Gilbert.  "They  heard  it  an  hour  ago,  in 
the  open,  and  are  hoping  for  the  prey  ever  since." 

"  That  they  may  have  one  of  their  gluttonous 
devourings,"  said  his  master,  with  a  shrug  of  dis- 
gust. "  I'm  sorry  I  did  not  leave  the  bles-bok  for 
the  jackals.  At  all  events,  you  secure  the  haunch 
fur  ourselves,  Gilbert." 

A  word  from  the  latter,  and  the  Hottentot 
driver,  who  had  been  crouched  at  the  fire  with 
the  same  guilty  and  fear-stricken  look  as  in  the 
afternoon  toward  Mr.  Enfield,  glided  away  into  the 
circle  of  gathering  gloom. 

"He'll  bespeak  the  joint,  sir,"  said  Gilbert. 
"  Jan  hasn't  had  a  word  to  say  since  the  accident — 
wasn't  even  reassured  by  the  sight  of  the  wagon  on 
its  legs  again,  all  right  and  sound." 

A  different  being  was  the  yellow  Jan  an  hour  or 
so  afterward  when  many  hands  had  dragged  the 
bles-bok  within  convenient  distance  of  the  fire  and 
the  cooking  began.  The  whole  energies  of  the  man 
came  forth  at  the  sight  and  smell  of  meat,  even  an 
unlimited  quantity  of  meat.  The  Caffres  were  no 
better.  Even  Sackaboni  helped  ravenously  in  the 


22  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

cutting  up  of  the  beast.  It  was  a  piteous  sight  to 
behold  their  eagerness,  as  of  carnivorous  creatures, 
and  their  gluttony  as  only  savage  men  can  glut- 
ton ize. 

''Wolves  couldn't  be  worse,  sir,"  said  Gilbert, 
returning  to  Mr.  Enfield's  tent  after  a  visit  to  the 
principal  fire.  "  In  answer  to  your  question,  I  will 
tell  you  that  hyenas  couldn't  be  worse  than  those 
blacks,  sir." 

"  I  shall  insist  on  their  saving  some  of  the  meat 
for  to-morrow.  The  improvident  savages !"  ex- 
claimed Mr.  Enfield,  jumping  up  from  the  mattrass 
on  which  he  lay  by  the  fire. 

"  It's  not  one  antelope,  but  a  flock  of  bles-boks 
they  would  eat,  if  they  had  the  chance,"  said  Gil- 
bert, following  his  master. 

More  than  half  of  the  animal  had  already  disap- 
peared. By  standing  steadfastly  present  and  using 
sundry  threatenings,  Mr.  Enfield  procured  some 
joints  of  the  remainder  to  be  hung  on  neighbouring 
trees  till  the  morrow,  adding  that  he  would  know 
what  tigers  to  punish  if  any  of  the  meat  so  reserved 
was  missing. 

"They  seemed  quite  low-spirited  at  my  inter- 
ference, the  gluttons  !  People  at  home  wouldn't 
believe  this  voracity,  Gilbert."  And  he  laid  him- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  23 

self  down  comfortably  as  before  to  note  something 
in  a  little  book. 

"  It's  more  like  drunkenness  than  anything  I 
know,  sir,"  remarked  Gilbert.  "They  get  quite 
beside  themselves  before  a  quantity  of  meat,  and 
can  never  be  satisfied.  Even  that  boy  changes, 
quite,  and  he's  the  hopefullest  of  the  lot." 

"Yes,  an  intelligent  fellow,"  said  Mr.  Enfield, 
abstractedly,  writing  with  his  pencil,  and  did  not 
speak  again  for  some  half  hour.  Looking  up,  he 
beheld  Gilbert,  not  asleep  on  crossed  arms,  as  usual 
after  his  laborious  day,  but  reading. 

"James,  what's  your  study?  You're  so  seldom 
a  student." 

Perhaps  the  strong-built  Englishman  coloured 
a  little  as  he  answered,  "A  Testament  my  poor 
mother  gave  me,  sir." 

"  Indeed,  I  never  saw  it  before,"  Mr.  Enfield 
observed  dryly.  But  looking  up  after  another  in- 
terval, he  saw  the  close  attention  of  the  man  to  his 
book ;  some  time  elapsed  without  even  a  movement 
on  his  part. 

"  You  seem  interested,  Gilbert  ?" 

Gilbert  raised  his  head  suddenly  as  at  a  wholly 
unexpected  voice.  Had  he  been  in  the  England 
of  his  childhood,  standing  at  a  mother's  knee  and 


24  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

listening    to    those    hallowed    stories     from    her 
lips? 

"  Sir,  my  poor  mother  begged  me  to  read  were  it 
only  a  verse  of  this  every  day,  and  for  many  a  day 
I've  forgotten  it.  I  must  make  amends,"  was  Gil- 
bert's apology  for  being  interested  in  the  Bible. 

"And  what  reminded  you  of  it  now?"  asked  his 
master. 

"You  remember  the  missionary  station  where 
we  stopped  a  month  or  two  ago,  up  country,  sir 
among  the  Griquas  ?" 

"  Yes ;  we  spent  a  Sunday  there,  and  saw  the 
good  man's  hopeless  task." 

"  Well,  that  gentleman  spoke  to  me  about  my 
soul  that  evening  when  I  went  to  the  kraal  on 
some  errand  for  you,  sir ;  I  don't  recollect  what  he 
said,  but  I  got  out  the  Testament  from  the  bottom 
of  my  box  next  morning." 

"And  have  you  been  reading  it  since?  How 
was  it  that  I  never  saw  you?" 

"  Because  I  used  to  go  off,  sir,  behind  the  bushes 
and  hide  as  if  I  was  ashamed.  But  to-day  I  came 
on  a  verse  which  showed  me  the  wickedness  of 
that." 

"Of  what?" 

"Being  ashamed  of  God  or  of  trying  to  please 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  25 

him,"  returned  Gilbert.  "And  I  thought  I'd 
read  the  book  aboveboard  for  the  future,  anyhow. 
Here's  the  verse ;"  he  had  been  turning  the  leaves 
and  now  read  aloud  in  the  monotone  usual  with 
persons  who  have  not  been  accustomed  to  the  exer- 
cise, that  passage  so  laden  with  stupendous  re- 
sults : 

"  Whosoever  therefore  shall  confess  me  before 
men,  him  will  I  confess  also  before  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven. 

"  But  whosoever  shall  deny  me  before  men,  him 
will  I  also  deny  before  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven." 

"You  see,  sir,"  added  Gilbert,  with  homely 
brevity,  "  its  better  to  be  on  the  safe  side." 

His  master  nodded.  He  did  not  care  to  go 
deeper  into  these  things ;  he  had  always  respected 
what  was  good,  but  shirked  applying  truth  to  his 
own  conscience. 

"  I  wonder  how  that  missionary  is  getting  on  ? 
I  don't  suppose  he  ever  will  civilize,  thoroughly 
civilize,  those  savages  about  him.  In  fact,  he  has 
undertaken  an  impossibility.  What !  make  such 
brutes  as  those  yonder  like  Europeans  ?  Never !" 

"  Well,  sir,  it  was  only  a  new  place,  and  we  can't 
judge  of  a  few  months'  work.  But  don't  you 


26  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

recollect  Gradenthal?  We  saw  Hottentots  there 
us  orderly  as  Lancashire  factory-people." 

"Oh,  that's  mere  civilization;  that  isn't  solely 
from  preaching,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  "but  from 
farming  and  gardening  and  weaving  and  other  such 
means." 

"  Preaching  went  along  with  whatever  else  was 
done,"  affirmed  Gilbert,  "  and  I  suppose  it  helped 
the  practice.  And  we've  kept  clear  of  the  other 
mission-places,  sir,  and  I've  read  the  English  his- 
tory and  can't  make  out  that  ourselves  were  much 
better  long  ago  than  the  Caffres  are  now ;  for  cer- 
tain we  used  to  paint  our  skins  blue  and  wear 
nothing  but  hides  of  beasts  and  live  in  clay  huts ; 
and  if  somebody  had  said  of  Englishmen  then, 
'  Oh,  they're  too  great  savages  to  be  preached  to,' 
why,  we  shouldn't  ever  have  been  the  nation  we 
are.  That's  likely,  sir." 

"  I  suppose  so,"  was  Mr.  Enfield's  indolent  ac- 
quiescence. "  Why,  Gilbert,  you've  been  studying 
this  subject  rather,  to  have  such  a  telling  argument 
so  pat." 

"  I've  been  talking  to  that  boy — to  Sackaboni,  sir. 
I  never  saw  a  being  more  wonderfully  surprised 
about  things  I  have  told  him.  He  used  to  come  to 
me  for  days  afterward  and  j  ust  say,  '  Is  it  true  ?'  " 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  27 

"  Yet  there  he  is,  gluttonizing  yonder  with  the 
lowest  of  his  countrymen,"  said  Mr.  Eufield. 

"Sir,  a  drunkard  don't  get  cured  in  one  day, 
and  it's  harder  for  these  poor  blacks  to  control 
their  propensities  than  for  white  men.  But  I  see 
good  among  'em,  I  do,"  emphasized  Gilbert,  "es- 
pecially in  that  lad.  I'm  sure  if  that  lad  could  be 
made  stay  under  teaching  somewhere,  he  would  be 
a  decent  chap  yet,  and  a  deal  happier  than  he's 
likely  to  be  in  savagery.  See  if  he  isn't  ashamed 
of  his  gormandizing  to-morrow  morning ;  he  will 
slouch  about  like  a  pet  dog  that  knows  he's  been 
at  bad  tricks." 

"That  fire  yonder  seems  getting  low  already," 
observed  Mr.  Enfield.  "Their  abominable  im- 
providence cannot  even  heap  on  fresh  fuel  before 
going  to  sleep.  You  had  better  look  to  it,  Gilbert, 
or  a  leopard's  teeth  may  meet  in  some  of  them 
before  morning." 

Wrapped  in  their  sheepskin  karosses  and  in  the 
stoniest  slumbers,  lay  brown  Caffres  and  yellow 
Hottentots,  feet  to  the  watch-fire,  all  unheeding  a 
distant  concert  of  jackals,  who  were  perhaps  having 
a  consultation  as  to  the  meaning  of  that  strange, 
double-red  glow  beside  the  Fountain  of  the  Kloof. 


CHAPTER    III. 

NEWS    FROM     THE    NORTH. 

HE  moon  was  yet  high  in  air,  hanging 
clear  as  a  silver  shield — graven  with  de- 
vices unknown  to  men — over  the  bivouac 
in  the  Fountain  Kloof,  drowning  the  red 
gleam  of  the  dying  fires  in  her  flood  of  radiance, 
when  a  horn  rang  out  loud  and  long  through  the 
valley.  It  startled  many  a  wild  thing  in  the 
woods  by  its  sudden  breaking  up  of  the  dead 
silence,  rousing  the  deer  from  their  fern  beds  in 
the  underbrush,  while  their  bright  shy  eyes  glanced 
fearfully  around  for  the  new  enemy  thus  fearfully 
announced ;  and  presently  the  smouldering  bivouac 
fires  brightened  up  under  fresh  fuel,  and  dark 
figures  were  moving  about.  The  labours  of  the 
long  African  day  were  begun. 

Mr.  Enfield's  first  care  was  to  investigate 
whether  the  carnivora — human  or  four-footed — had 
been  making  free  with  the  antelope's  meat  which 
he  had  caused  to  be  hung  on  the  trees  last  evening. 

28 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  29 

When  he  found  all  safe,  he  doled  out  a  moderate 
portion — enough  for  a  European's  meal — to  each 
of  his  Caffres.  The  rest,  notwithstanding  longing 
eyes,  was  packed  away  among  the  stores. 

"  They  must  be  made  provident  perforce,"  was 
his  remark  to  Gilbert.  "  As  to  moderation  being 
a  matter  of  choice  to  the  savages,  I  believe  it  to  be 
impossible." 

"  Still,  sir,  'I  don't  know  that  it's  ever  what's 
done  for  a  man  so  much  as  what  a  man  does  for 
himself  that  improves  him,"  was  the  steward's 
answer. 

"  That's  rather  a  riddle,  Gilbert." 

"  'Twould  be  better  they  laid  by  the  size  of  a 
nut  theirselves,  sir,  than  have  all  the  storage  in  the 
world  made  for  them." 

"  Oh,  I  understand.  Self-government  grows  by 
exercise  is  your  principle;  but  that's  rather  late  for 
the  men  and  women.  Schools  might  do  it  for  the 
children  perhaps.  I  am  going  to  look  for  a  bath 
now,  Gilbert,  and  then  to  breakfast." 

Whistling  some  song  air,  he  walked  by  the  edge 
of  the  stream  issuing  from  the  fountain,  and  pres- 
ently, by  the  struggling  dawnlight  and  moonlight, 
found  a  pool  in  the  water-course  which  suited  his 
purpose. 


30  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"I  wonder  when  the  Caffres  perform  any  ablu- 
tions?" was  his  soliloquy,  as  he  sat  down  afterward 
and  dipped  his  feet  in  the  clear,  cold  pool.  "  The 
beggars  seem  so  amused  when  one  asks  them  to 
wash ;  it's  evidently  a  capital  good  joke  to  them. 
Sackaboni's  the  only  one  I  ever  saw  venture  on  a 
plunge.  Well,  I  ought  not  to  forget,  the  Roman 
contadina,  who  answered  to  a  similar  entreaty,  '  I 
am  a  respectable  girl ;  I  don't  soak  myself  in 
water.'  Soiled  skin  and  smothered  pores  are  not 
peculiar  to  Caffredom,  after  all." 

He  lifted  one  foot,  but  let  the  other  dangle  in 
the  coolness  for  a  moment  longer. 

"  Talking  of  the  Romans,  perchance  the  centu- 
rions and  tribunes  of  their  old  armies  found  those 
blue  Britons,  our  ancestors,  as  strangely  savage 
and  apparently  irreclaimable  as  I  do  the  Caftres — 
rather  fiercer,  for  they  used  to  burn  wicker  idols 
full  of  men  and  women.  Who  knows  ?  There 
may  be  a  chance  for  these  Africans.  Macaulay's 
New  Zealander  may  have  a  fellow-traveller  to  the 
ruins  of  St.  Paul's  in  a  Caffre  wearing  a  coat." 

Such  is  a  compendium  of  the  reverie  which 
brought  him  back  to  the  bivouac.  And  as  the 
golden-balled  sun  arose  over  the  table-headed 
mountains  eastward,  the  procession  of  wagon,  oxen, 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  31 

horses  and  men  was  once  more  under  weigh, 
tracing  the  flattest  part  of  the  gorge  toward  its 
mouth. 

A  European  eye,  looking  freshly  on  that  caval- 
cade, would  instantly  have  considered  it  most 
clumsy  and  cumbrous.  Particularly  would  the 
wagon  have  roused  his  surprise  and  his  inventive 
genius.  Surely  anybody  could  construct  a  better 
vehicle  than  that  massive,  wooden  affair !  And 
such  harness !  Rope's  ends,  leathern  straps,  pul- 
leys, thongs,  all  mixed  up  together,  knotted,  stitch- 
ed, lashed  into  unity  of  effect.  But  of  all  the 
newly-arrived  Europeans  who  have  thought  thus, 
not  one  has  yet  been  able  to  suggest  a  real  work- 
able improvement  in  either  vehicle  or  harness. 

Mr.  Enfield  had  had  his  day  of  such  delusion, 
but  had  long  since  ceased  to  imagine  that  the  per- 
fect system  of  springs  and  draught  horses,  applic- 
able to  English  roads,  could  ever  suit  the  imper- 
fections of  African  traveling.  He  now  beheld  the 
discrepancies  of  his  equipage  with  uuoffended  eye, 
and  heard  the  clamour  of  fore-looper  and  driver  to 
their  stubborn  beasts  as  though  hearing  it  not. 
His  fourteen  oxen  in  team  had  all  names.  "  Eng- 
land," "  Ireland,"  "  Scotland,"  "  Maree,"  are  speci- 
mens of  them ;  and  Mr.  Enfield  had  the  satisfaction 


32  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

of  hearing  the  three  British  isles  well  scolded  very 
frequently  for  certain  unruly  propensities  which 
rendered  them  bad  subjects  for  a  yoke. 

Hotter  and  hotter  grew  the  day  toward  noon- 
tide, especially  when  the  traveller  emerged  from 
the  comparatively  sheltered  gorge  into  a  wide 
plain,  where  the  midsummer  sunbeams  had  fullest 
power.  "  What  a  December  day  !"  muttered  the 
English  sportsman,  as  he  unbuckled  his  bandolier 
and  threw  it  over  the  back  of  the  nearest  pack-ox. 

That  plain  might  have  been  a  nobleman's  park 
at  home,  he  thought,  looking  over  it  from  a  slight 
hillock  crowned  with  forest  trees,  except  that  the 
green-flowered  expanse  stretched  for  miles  upon 
miles  without  sign  of  a  human  habitation — a  gor- 
geous uninhabited  land  beneath  a  crystal  heaven. 

Sackaboni  touched  his  arm  as  he  stood.  "  Mas- 
er,  maser !"  and  his  other  hand  pointed  to  the 
middle  distance  of  the  plain.  "  Caffre  trader, 
maser — pack-ox—one,  two,  three." 

Mr.  Enfield  directed  his  eyes  by  the  boy's  brown 
finger,  and  could  barely  discern  a  moving  object 
emerge  from  the  shadow  of  some  trees.  Caffre 
traders  or  browsing  bles-boks  they  might  have  been 
so  far  as  his  unaided  vision  was  concerned,  but 
Sackaboni  had  the  proverbial  wilderness-sight,  and 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  33 

named  the  number  and  nature  of  the  objects  with- 
out hesitation. 

"  They  turn  this  way,  maser — they  see  us,"  the 
Caffre  boy  added  to  his  former  information. 
"  They  meet  us,  maser."  The  telescope  confirmed 
each  statement. 

Great  chattering  arose  among  the  attendant 
"  tail"  of  Caffres  when  they  became  aware  of  the 
approaching  travellers.  It  was  long  since  any  of 
the  party  had  heard  a  bit  of  news,  and  assuredly 
these  could  tell  some.  They  were  willing  to  push 
on  farther  than  usual  in  the  noontide  heats  for  the 
sake  of  nearing  the  strangers ;  but  presently  Mr. 
Enfield's  imperative  whistle — a  shrill  steel  imple- 
ment worn  at  his  waist-belt — summoned  all  to  the 
out-span  under  a  grove  of  fine  trees.  "  England," 
"  Ireland"  and  "  Scotland,"  with  their  brethren  in 
labour,  were  unharnessed  and  free  to  repose  for  a 
time  free  from  any  wooden  collar. 

Their  owner  threw  out  of  his  wagon  a  lion  skin, 
and  flung  it  on  a  low  thorn  bush  near  by,  making 
the  most  elastic  of  spring  cushions,  and,  having 
lighted  his  cigar,  lay  smoking  placidly.  Right 
before  him  rose  a  specimen  of  the  wondrously-ele- 
gant  fan-palm,  each  leaf  of  which  is  as  delicately 
shaped  as  a  lady's  fan ;  and  motionless  hung  this 


34  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

symmetrical  foliage,  clear-cut  against  the  blue  air 
above. 

"  Sackaboni,  get  me  some  of  those  palm  apples," 
said  the  master. 

The  agile  Caffre  lad  scaled  the  lofty  stom  in  a 
few  minutes,  and  returned  with  the  mahogany 
balls  required,  smooth  and  hard  exteriorly  as  their 
own  ivory  core. 

"  How  near  are  the  traders  ?"  asked  his  master, 
taking  the  fruit  from  his  dusky  palm.  "I  saw 
you  stealing  a  glance  from  the  top  of  the  tree." 

Sackaboni  began  to  reckon  on  his  fingers. 
"  Two — six — three  mile,"  he  said,  his  white  teeth 
gleaming.  The  lad's  notions  of  counting  were  but 
primitive,  at  least  so  far  as  concerned  the  English 
numerals ;  but  he  was  very  proud  of  the  few  words 
of  white  man's  tongue  which  he  did  know,  and 
displayed  them  on  all  occasions,  considering  his 
vernacular  a  decidedly  vulgar  tongue,  fit  only  for 
"  blackies." 

Mr.  Enfield  amused  himself  with  the  boy  for  a 
while,  as  one  might  with  a  pet  monkey,  and  at  last 
bade  him  "go  to  sleep;"  in  obedience  to  which 
injunction  Sackaboni  curled  himself  up  on  the 
heathy  ground  near  by  and  instantaneously  forgot 
all  things. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  35 

"An  animal's  capacity  for  slumber  also,"  ob- 
served his  master,  who,  being  a  highly-civilized 
product  from  Europe,  enjoyed  the  distinction  of 
lying  awake  for  some  time  after  he  had  finished  his 
cigar  and  flung  away  the  end,  notwithstanding 
sundry  strenuous  efforts  to  bury  himself  in  repose. 
He  must  have  succeeded  at  last,  for  he  was  con- 
scious when  he  awoke  of  some  foregoing  interval 
of  oblivion. 

The  oxen  were  browsing  in  shade  of  the  water- 
boom  trees,  and  there  was  a  murmur  of  some  per- 
son talking  at  a  little  distance,  but  he  could  see 
none  of  his  Caffres.  All  the  charred  logs  usually 
lying  about  and  under  the  wagon  had  disappeared. 
Mr.  Enfield  lifted  himself  from  his  comfortable 
thorn  couch,  and  could  hear  the  voice  more  dis- 
tinctly. 

It  was  Gilbert's,  and  the  words  were  in  Caffre. 
A  few  steps  brought  his  master  to  a  position  in  the 
thicket  whence  he  could  see  unobserved.  Squatting 
round  the  carpenter  were  most  of  the  natives — 
Sackaboni  foremost :  Gilbert's  first  finger  was  in 
his  Bible,  and  most  earnestly  he  was  speaking  to 
them  about  it.  Pointing  sometimes  to  the  sky, 
sometimes  to  the  earth,  he  was  teaching  them  from 
the  one  great  fact  of  death,  which  they  knew,  the 


36  THE  FOUNTAIN   KLOOF. 

blessed  facts  of  Jesus  and  the  resurrection,  which 
without  Scripture  they  could  not  know. 

They  laughed  when  they  heard  that  all  men 
would,  must,  rise  again.  And  Sackaboni,  to  whom 
the  intelligence  was  not  so  new,  looked  round  on 
them  with  large,  serious  eyes. 

"  Caffre  steal  ox,"  said  one  of  them,  adverting  to 
their  national  sin.  "  Caffre  goes  away,  three  days' 
journey,  owner  never  find.  And  after  he  dies  he 
find  !  he  see  Caffre  again  ?"  Incredulously  spoken 
in  Caffre  irony. 

"Yes,"  said  the  white  man.  "My  book,"  he 
held  it  up,  "  was  sent  down  from  the  great  God,  to 
say  that  every  one  who  is  buried,  every  one  who 
dies,  will  rise  again  and  be  alive  as  truly  as  he  was 
before;  the  great  God  will  put  the  spirit  into  him 
again,  and  then  he  must  stand  before  the  great  God 
and  be  judged  for  all  the  sins  he  has  done — not  one 
of  them  will  be  forgotten." 

None  of  them  laughed  now.  It  was  too  impor- 
tant a  matter.  When  a  thing  was  done,  it  was 
done,  good  or  evil,  and  there  would  be  no  more 
about  it,  had  always  been  their  idea.  But  if  all 
was  to  be  remembered  and  punishment  was  to 
follow — • 

"  Why  not  you  and  maser  tell  us  this  before  ? 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  37 

Maser  not  think  it  or  he  would  tell.  It  not 
true?" 

And  master,  standing  in  the  bushes,  was  con- 
scious, for  perhaps  the  first  time,  what  a  terrible 
truth  it  was — with  what  a  grandeur  it  invested  ex- 
istence— this  truth  of  resurrection  and  judgment  to 
come. 

"God  help  me!"  said  Gilbert,  humbly.  "I 
ought  to  have  told  you  before.  But  did  you  never 
hear  a  missionary  preach  it  ?  A  month  ago,  among 
the  Griquas,  did  you  not  hear  it  ?" 

No,  they  never  had ;  at  least  it  never  had  seized 
upon  their  memories. 

Gilbert  had  been  illustrating  his  discourse  with 
a  bit  of  stick,  for  which  he  had  made  a  grave,  and 
over  which  he  had  raised  a  mound,  and  had  again 
disinterred  it,  just  to  help  their  imaginations  by 
their  eyes.  The  wonderful  story  of  Jesus  Christ 
he  told  now  in  its  main  outlines,  and  how  he  also 
lay  in  the  grave ;  and  then  he  told  how  he  arose 
and  ascended  into  heaven.  The  little  audience 
were  breathless  to  the  end,  listening  with  ear  and 
eye. 

But  as  they  began  to  stir  and  break  up,  the 
master  glided  away  from  the  thicket  with  some- 
thing very  like  a  little  gnawing  of  reproach  at  his 


38  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

heart.  He,  a  repository  of  this  great  truth,  had 
done  nothing  to  make  it  known,  and  these  heathen 
must  die  and  arise  just  as  himself!  What  if  he 
he  should  be  asked  hereafter  why  he  did  it  not? 
And  the  Cain-like  answer  could  not  at  that  mo- 
ment come  glibly  to  his  lips,  "Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper  ?" 

These  thoughts  were  dissipated  when  he  came 
into  the  open  near  the  glorious  clump  of  water- 
boom  trees,  and  beheld  the  Caffre  traders  approach- 
ing from  a  distance  of  some  quarter  of  a  mile.  Pie 
went  forward  to  meet  them. 

Brawny,  broad  fellows,  partially  dressed  as  Eu- 
ropeans, mounted  with  their  parcels  and  packages 
upon  swift  oxen.  They  had  been  up-country 
among  the  native  tribes,  trafficking  in  blankets 
and  cotton  kerchiefs,  in  iron  tools  and  probably 
smuggled  powder — certainly  and  above  all  in  the 
great  currency  of  beads. 

"  Well,  friends,  what  cheer  ?  what  news  ?"  asked 
Mr.  Enfield. 

The  elder  of  the  two  dismounted,  and  in  tol- 
erable English  informed  his  questioner  that  there 
was  very  bad  news  indeed,  for  that  Pato  and  Ma- 
komo,  renowned  chieftains,  had  at  last  broken 
bounds  and  were  marching  on  the  white  settle- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  39 

ments  with  all  their  savage  hordes,  bent  upon 
driving  all  Europeans  into  the  blue  water. 

A  curious,  unbelieving  smile  hovered  on  the 
sportsman's  lips.  "Are  you  certain  of  this?  or 
are  you  running  away  from  a  report?"  he  inquired. 

They  had  it  from  true  lips — from  men  who  had 
seen  and  therefore  knew  the  truth.  Makomo  was 
the  son  of  Gaika  who  had  given  successive  gov- 
ernors so  much  trouble.  As  for  the  traders,  they 
remembered  the  war  ten  years  ago,  when  Caffres 
were  too  strong  for  white  men  all  along  the  fron- 
tier ;  they  wished  to  get  to  the  colony  as  quickly 
as  possible;  would  Mynheer,  the  English  gentle- 
man, permit  them  to  travel  among  his  servants  ? 

But  Mr.  Enfield  was  not  going  straight  to  the 
colony.  He  was  marching  at  right  angles  to  the 
most  direct  path  thither,  wanting  to  strike  upon 
the  nearest  white  station.  He  should  not  alter  his 
plan  for  any  threatening  demonstration  of  savages. 
Besides — but  this  he  kept  in  his  own  mind — he 
did  not  give  much  credence  to  the  assertions  of  the 
Caffre  traders.  "  All  liars,"  said  he.  "  It  is  the 
breath  of  their  nostrils.  And  if  not  a  downright 
falsehood  'tis  a  large  exaggeration." 

"The  nearest  white  station!  Ask  the  torrent, 
after  a  thunderstorm,  what  became  of  the  pebble  in 


40  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

its  path  ?"  quoth  the  Caffres,  with  abundant  ges- 
ticulations. "So  would  Makomo's  host  sweep 
away  every  vestige  of  white  settlements  on  the 
borders." 

But  finding  the  English  gentleman  deaf  to  their 
representations,  they  struck  away  from  his  caravan 
after  a  few  miles,  and  made  a  straight  course  for 
the  more  thickly-peopled  though  more  distant 
townships,  where  they  and  their  wares  would  be 
safest. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A     SEEDLING    SETTLEMENT. 

T  was  the  succeeding  evening  that  a  rider 
issued  from  the  copse  on  the  brow  of  a 
small  eminence,  and  reined  in  his  horse  to 
look  at  the  outstretched  land  before  him. 
A  slight  exclamation  had  almost  broken  from  his 
lips  when  he  saw,  among  the  huts  of  a  Caffre 
kraal,  one  or  two  European  dwellings.  A  mission- 
station,  of  course.  No  ordinary  settler  would  plant 
his  habitation  in  the  midst  of  a  village  of  Caffres. 
But  for  healing  the  sin-stricken  now,  as  in  the 
days  of  our  blessed  Redeemer,  it  is  necessary  to 
come  down  among  them  and  touch  them. 

Two  clusters  of  beehive  huts  beset  the  European 
dwellings,  looking  almost  as  much  beneath  the 
latter  in  the  scale  of  civilization  as  the  mounds  of 
moles.  An  attempt  at  cultivation  was  on  the  out- 
skirts ;  patches  of  Caffre  corn  and  "  mealies"  irreg- 
ularly won  from  the  waste  around — a  waste  capable 
of  producing  almost  anything  of  vegetable  life,  but 

41 


42  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

wild  as  the  hearts  of  those  who  roamed  it.  The 
mission-house  had  in  front  a  little  garden — a  strip 
redeemed  from  the  wilderness  and  fenced  in.  The 
wanderer's  eye  rested  upon  that  faint  adumbration 
of  English  culture  with  some  peculiar  pleasure. 
He  could  hear  the  cattle-calls  over  the  wide  pas- 
tures, borne  to  him  on  the  still  air ;  he  saw  moving 
groups  of  natives  near  the  entrance  of  the  cattle- 
folds,  and  solitary  women  hoeing  in  the  corn,  but 
no  white  man  was  visible. 

As  he  approached  the  kraal  he  caused  the  cus- 
tomary sensation.  Ships  meeting  at  sea  in  long, 
lonely  voyages  are  not  more  welcome  each  to  each 
than  are  travellers  in  African  solitudes  to  those 
of  kindred  nationality.  Half  a  score  Caffres  had 
rushed  to  "  Maser,"  the  missionary,  in  his  little 
sitting-room,  where  he  was  trying  to  accomplish 
some  study,  with  news  that  a  white  man  mounted 
on  a  horse  was  coming,  and  he  in  much  wonder- 
ment also  donned  his  palm-leaf  hat  and  came  out 
to  behold.  Their  meeting  was  among  a  hundred 
starers,  who  afterward  mimicked  near  the  gate  of 
the  cattle-fold,  with  much  success  and  riotous 
amusement,  the  hearty  shake-hands  by  which  either 
Englishman  had  expressed  his  cordiality  to  the 
other. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  43 

"  It  is  so  pleasant  to  see  a  white  face,  my  dear 
sir!"  was  Mr.  Enfield's  excuse  for  another  shake- 
hands  when  they  had  crossed  the  threshold.  "After 
a  nomad  life  of  months — " 

Just  here  a  lady  entered  the  room — the  mission- 
ary's wife.  I  dare  say  she  had  been  arranging  her 
dress  a  little  before  meeting  the  strange  European, 
who  on  his  part  possibly  felt  disagreeably  conscious 
of  his  duffel  clothes,  which  professional  tailors  had 
never  cut  out  or  stitched,  and  of  his  ox-hide  boots 
guiltless  of'  the  blacking-brush.  Somehow,  he  had 
never  expected  to  meet  a  lady. 

Her  quick  perception  saw  the  embarrassment 
which  her  husband  failed  to  detect.  "If  the  gen- 
tleman can  put  up  with  wilderness  accommoda- 
tion," she  said,  smiling,  in  answer  to  the  mission- 
ary's hospitable  offer  and  his  glance  at  her;  "but 
he  sees  that  we  are  all  in  the  rough  here;  just  in 
the  transition  state  from  barbarism." 

Mr.  Enfield  would  be  only  too  glad.  In  fact, 
he  had  reckoned  on  finding  some  white  people  with 
whom  to  spend  his  Christmas  day.  "  You  perceive 
that  I  am  really  inviting  myself,  Mrs.  Mason  ?" 

For  the  little  missionary  had  told  him  that  his 
name  was  Joseph  Mason,  agent  to  a  missionary 
society  at  this  new  station  of  Tabor. 


44  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"And  I  have  a  fellow-labourer,  an  Englishman 
also,  to  whom  a  traveller  and  a  countryman  will 
be  a  pleasant  surprise,  I  must  inform  him  of  the 
arrival." 

And  the  gentlemen  left  the  house  together,  while 
Mrs.  Mason  began  to  turn  over  in  her  mind  ways 
and  means  for  a  civilized  supper  as  she  sat  by 
baby's  crib.  She  could  not  set  the  stranger  down 
to  their  usual  evening  meal  of  boiled  Caffre  corn 
and  milk — at  least,  she  thought  not — and  her  other 
resources  were  trifling.  If  she  could  get  some  corn 
ground  between  stones  by  a  native  woman,  she 
might  manufacture  cakes.  Her  own  fingers  had 
been  grievously  crushed  once  or  twice  that  she  had 
herself  essayed  this  original  mode  of  grinding,  and 
the  natives  were  not  always  amenable  to  work,  un- 
less they  expected  a  favour.  And  so  the  unforeseen 
guest  caused  here  a  trouble  somewhat  akin  to  what 
he  would  cause  in  an  English  homestead,  and  the 
spirit  of  Martha  entered  into  Mrs.  Mason's  gentle 
breast  for  the  first  time  during  a  year. 

The  gentlemen  passed  through  the  neat  garden 
at  the  back  of  the  mission  premises,  and  Mr.  En- 
field  noticed  a  half-finished  building. 

"  Our  chapel,"  said  Mr.  Mason.  "  We  work  at 
it  every  day.  That  wattle-and-daub  style  is  not 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  45 

difficult  of  erection,  but  when  one's  hand  has  to  be 
at  everything — gardening,  carpentering,  roofing, 
plastering — it  takes  some  time  to  get  a  job  done." 

"And  how  does  this  agree  with  your  spiritual 
duties?"  asked  Mr.  Enfield.  "I  mean,  how  can 
you  teach  the  natives  with  so  many  other  duties 
incumbent?  Don't  you  find  yourself  secularized 
too  much?" 

"  No,"  answered  the  missionary.  "  On  the  con- 
trary, I  find  that  the  emergencies  of  daily  life  are 
the  best  times  for  preaching  the  gospel.  Common 
occurrences  are  the  occasions  which  give  scope  for 
Christian  teaching.  They  cannot  bear  many  ser- 
mons, these  untaught  intellects.  They  must  get 
teaching  like  the  dropping  of  dew — the  small  rain 
on  the  tender  herb,"  concluded  Mr.  Mason. 

"I  can  understand  that,"  said  the  stranger. 
"  Like  children,  only  a  crumb  of  knowledge  at  a 
time." 

"And  I  have  faith  in  the  acting  out  of  the 
Christian  life  before  their  eyes,"  added  the  mission- 
ary. "  They  will  get  a  desire  for  at  least  the  pre- 
liminaries of  civilization,  and  this  may  pave  the 
way  for  our  great  boon,  the  gospel  of  our  Lord 
Jesus." 

He  pronounced  the  words  as  if  he  loved  them, 


46  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

and  they  lingered  sweetly  in  his  ear,  but  a  wistful 
glance  at  his  companion's  handsome  face  discovered 
no  answering  expression  there.  "  I  fear  he  knows 
not  the  Lord,"  thought  Mr.  Mason,  and  in  his  heart 
a  deep  pity  sprang  for  the  wealthy  Englishman,  so 
far  beyond  himself  in  all  that  the  world  admires  or 
values. 

And  truly  Mr.  Enfield  could  well  understand 
the  importance  of  civilization  to  these  dusky  chil- 
dren of  Africa,  who  followed  the  white  men  now, 
staring  curiously ;  but  "  the  great  book  of  the  gos- 
pel" was  to  him  quite  a  secondary  matter.  His 
aspirations  were  yet  of  the  earth,  earthy. 

Another  dwelling  of  European  angles  was  before 
them,  at  a  little  distance  from  the  unfinished  chapel. 
"Here  Owen  lives  —  I  suppose  he  is  at  study 
now,"  observed  Mr.  Mason. 

"  Owen !"  What  tide  of  struggling  remembrances 
was  let  loose  by  the  name  Mr.  Enfield  had  not 
space  to  analyze,  for  the  interior  bolt  was  undone 
in  answer  to  the  missionary's  knock  and  a  tall 
figure  appeared. 

No  need  of  introduction.  Old  class-mates,  old 
college  mates,  Philip  Owen  and  Charles  Enfield 
clasped  each  other's  outstretched  hands  and  gazed 
at  one  another  as  only  those  do  who  have  been 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  47 

long  separated  and  meet  unawares.  Not  letting  go 
his  hand,  Mr.  Owen  drew  his  friend  into  the  house 
— to  the  rude,  half-planed  table  and  couple  of 
benches  which  were  his  furniture : 

"  Sit  down  and  speak  to  me.  I  am  so  glad  to 
"see  you  again,  Charley !" 

"  And  I  can  scarcely  say  how  amazed  I  am  to 
behold  you  here,  Philip  ?" 

"  Did  not  you  know  I  was  ordained  ?"  asked 
Mr.  Owen. 

"  Yes,  and  settled  down  as  curate  at .  My 

sister  wrote  to  me — " 

"  Mrs.  Devereux  ?"  inquired  Mr.  Owen,  with  the 
very  slightest  change  of  colour. 

"  No,  I  think  it  was  in  a  letter  of  Margaret's  I 
had  that  news,"  said  Mr.  Enfield.  "  I'm  on  my 
way  home  to  them  now,  Philip,"  he  added ;  "  I'm 
tired  of  roving  for  a  while.  Who  should  ever  have 
thought  that  you  would  take  my  place?" 

"On  rather  a  different  errand,  Charley,"  an- 
swered the  other,  who  had  immediately  suppressed 
whatever  emotion  had  been  stirred  up  a  minute 
since — "a  different  errand  and  different  motives." 

"Well,  it  is  clear  you  did  not  come  for  amuse- 
ment or  enjoyment,"  observed  his  friend,  with  a 
meaning  glance  around  the  bare  apartment,  on  the 


48  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

walls  of  which  the  "  wattle-aiid-daub"  was  kept 
out  of  sight  by  a  pasting  of  old  newspapers  close 
together,  and  the  furniture  of  which  has  been  pre- 
viously inventoried  with  the  exception  of  many 
books. 

"  I  am  studying  here,"  said  Mr.  Owen,  "  hoping 
to  know  enough  of  the  native  language  some  day 
to  be  a  missionary.  See;  it  looks  rather  crabbed." 

He  turned  up  a  book  lying  on  its  face,  a  Caffre 
Testament.  Anybody  who  investigated  the  obscure 
case  in  the  obscure  gallery-corner  allotted  to  our 
glorious  Bible  Society  in  last  summer's  Interna- 
tional Exhibition  has  seen  one  likewise. 

"  And  that  book's  the  motive,  Charley  ?" 

"Both  the  motive  and  the  end,"  he  said. 
"Quite  enough  for  both." 

"Are  you  really  and  in  serious  earnest  bent  on 
abandoning  European  life  for  African  ?"  asked  his 
friend.  "  I  can  scarcely  believe  it.  Where  is  your 
ambition?  Great  things  used  to  be  prophesied 
concerning  you." 

"  Really  and  in  serious  earnest  I  mean  to  settle 
for  life  in  South  Africa,"  was  the  reply.  "As  to 
my  ambition,  I  hope  it  is  dead  so  far  as  it  concerns 
the  things  of  this  world.  I  desire  to  lay  it  all  at 
the  feet  of  my  Redeemer.  I  hope  I  can  say,  '  None 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  49 

of  these  things  move  me,  so  that  I  can  finish  my 
course  with  joy.'  I  have  found  a  more  desirable 
object  than  earthly  glory ;  a  stronger  motive  than 
love  of  ease  or  love  of  grandeur.'7  And  the  calm, 
bright  light  steadfast  in  his  deep  eyes,  the  vivid 
smile  upon  his  noble  face,  testified  that  what  he 
had  found  had  been  to  the  satisfying  of  his  soul. 


CHAPTER    V. 

PHILIP     OWEN'S    PRINCIPLE. 

CAN  do  nothing  but  deeply  regret  your  de- 
termination/' said  Mr.  En  field,  breaking  a 
minute's  embarrassed  silence ;  "  but  I  am 
sure  you  have  resolved  from  a  sense  of 
duty  and  the  purest  motives,  though  I  cannot  pro- 
fess to  comprehend  them." 

"  No,  no,  Charley,"  said  the  other,  thoughtfully. 
"  It  is  true — you  cannot  comprehend  them." 

Though  it  was  what  Mr.  Enfield  had  just  assert- 
ed of  himself,  he  did  not  quite  like  its  calm  re- 
assertion  by  his  companion. 

"There  is  something  so  unnatural  about  your 
voluntary  change  of  position,"  he  began.  "  If  you 
were  a  friendless  young  fellow,  with  no  openings 
in  the  ecclesiastical  life  of  England,  and  devoid  of 
means,  I  could  imagine  your  selecting  the  colonies 
as  a  wide  and  promising  field  for  your  energies, 
and  liking  the  Zclat  attendant  on  the  life  of  a  dis- 
tinguished missionary;  but  you,  with  your  ade- 

50 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  5] 

quate  fortune  and  influential  friends  and  consider- 
able abilities,  I  am  totally  at  a  loss  to  account  for 
your — pardon  me  if  I  say — your  hallucination." 

"That  is  all  the  justest  reasoning,  from  your 
stand-point,"  said  Mr.  Owen.  "All  perfectly  ac- 
curate, but  one  force  in  the  composition  of  forces 
you  have  left  out.  Old  friend,  dear  friend,  would 
to  God  you  felt  that  force !" 

It  had  the  purport  of  a  prayer,  this  fervent 
wish.  His  voice  deepened  with  emotion  : 

"  Would  to  God  you  knew  as  I  know  what 
Christ  has  done  for  you ;  then  could  you  under- 
stand any  sacrifice  of  earthly  enjoyments  for  him  ; 
then,  with  your  horizon  of  existence  enlarged  from 
the  petty  circle  which  Death  traces — enlarged  to 
the  limits  of  the  life  of  God — you  would  take  up 
arms  worthy  of  your  eternal  destinies,  and  no 
longer  value  things  merely  by  their  mortal  magni- 
tude. You  would  learn  Heaven's  standard  of  esti- 
mation, and  how  different  it  is  from  earth's  !" 

Mr.  Enfield  felt  uncomfortable.  These  words 
were  mighty  and  powerful;  something  from  within 
responded  to  their  truth,  and  the  living  earnest- 
ness of  the  man  came  with  all  the  effect  of  novelty. 
So  little  do  Christians  live  up  to  the  glory  of  their 
hopes  that  he  had  never  happened  in  all  his  varied 


52  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

experience  of  society  to  meet  with  a  man  who 
spoke  thus  plainly  of  the  divine  change  which  re- 
models a  life.  Sermons  had  told  him  about  it 
somewhat,  and  he  considered  it  a  mystic  point  of 
theology  with  which  he  had  no  concern.  Hero 
was  a  man  who  felt  it  personally  as  a  power  reg- 
nant now  and  for  ever. 

"  '  I  am  not  mad,  most  noble  Festus,'  "  quoted 
the  other,  smiling  at  his  gaze,  " '  but  I  speak  the 
words  of  truth  and  soberness.'  And  that  glorious 
salvation  which  I  have  found  to  be  the  most 
precious  thing  a  man  can  receive  in  life  I  want  to 
show  to  the  heathen,  who  are  going  down  with 
every  hour  into  the  land  of  the  shadow  of  death. 
I  believe  it  is  God's  will  concerning  me  that  I 
should  preach  his  gospel  here." 

"  You  speak  like  an  apostle,"  said  Mr.  Enfield, 
"  but  the  days  of  special  revelations  are  gone  by. 
I  thought  divines  were  agreed  on  that  point." 

"  Nevertheless  there  is  a  guidance  of  circum- 
stances," replied  his  friend ;  "  and  to  those  Who 
seek  thus  to  be  led  the  heavenly  Father's  finger 
will  trace  a  way  through  the  meshes  of  daily 
events  wellnigh  as  distinct  as  was  the  path  mark- 
ed out  by  the  pillar  of  fire  in  the  wilderness.  I 
prayed  to  God  that  he  would  show  me  what  he 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  53 

had  for  me  to  do  in  this  his  world  of  work,  and 
by  many  concurrent  circumstances  I  was  brought 
here." 

"  And  how  do  you  get  on  with  the  native  lan- 
guages ?"  asked  Mr.  Enfield,  not  sorry  to  diverge 
from  the  main  subject.  "  You  had  rather  a  gift 
for  strange  tongues,  if  I  remember  aright." 

"  Yes ;  it  was  one  of  my  specialties  in  college, 
and  gave  me  pleasure  and  honour  many  a  time. 
Well,  you  see,  Enfield,  when  this  great  change  of 
which  I  have  spoken  came  over  me — as  complete 
a  change  as  if  you  dug  a  fresh  channel  for  a  flow- 
ing river — I  began  to  see  what  powers  I  had  that 
would  turn  to  account  in  my  new  life  and  to  fur- 
ther my  new  object,  the  glory  of  my  Redeemer. 
I  found  this  talent  useless  at  home.  That  was  one 
of  the  guiding  circumstances.  Another  was  the 
unexpected  failure  of  various  plans  for  settlement 
in  England  ;  and  a  third,  the  strong  inclination  to 
come  here  even  before  the  way  was  opened.  My 
heart  went  forth  to  South  Africa  in  ardent  desire 
for  its  good." 

"And  you  are  a  regularly-accredited  mis- 
sionary ?" 

"  Not  yet,  and  I  doubt  whether  I  shall  connect 
myself  with  any  society.  My  wish  is  to  preach 


54  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

about  among  the  tribes — to  go  from  plate  to  place, 
rousing  their  attention,  telling  them  the  wondrous 
story  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus.  It  was  the  evangel- 
izing plan  of  the  first  missionaries,  our  Lord's 
seventy  disciples." 

"You  will  have  the  distinction  of  originality," 
observed  Mr.  Enfield.  "  Then  I  suppose  you  are 
in  training  here?" 

"Precisely.  I  am  studying  at  this  station, 
where  I  can  mix  freely  with  the  natives,  and  have 
Mr.  Mason's  help  in  my  attempts  at  conversation 
and  preaching." 

"  He  is  a  Wesleyan  ?"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  inter- 
rogatively, with  a  slight  raising  of  his  eyebrows, 
conveying  more  than  the  words. 

"  Oh,  my  dear  Charley,  I  know  what  you  would 
say,  but  here,  in  the  desert  of  heathenism,  all  the 
fine-drawn  distinctions  of  the  Christian  world  fade 
away,  and  are  of  no  more  account  than  the  colour- 
ing of  one's  eyes.  In  the  presence  of  a  great  dark- 
ness our  little  lights  become  blended,  and  we 
wonder  at  the  petty  differences  which  are  as  gulfs 
in  Britain.  There  would  be  less  sectarianism  at 
home  if  people  looked  more  at  the  mighty  world 
which  lieth  in  wickedness,  and  considered  the  testi- 
mony that  is  required  from  Christians." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  55 

"It  would  not  have  an  edifying  effect  on  the 
heathen,  either." 

"  I  don't  know  whether  you  ever  read  the  Bible, 
Enfield,  but  you  may  remember  this  passage;"  and 
he  repeated  the  Lord's  words  in  his  last  sublime 
prayer  : 

" '  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them 
also  which  shall  believe  on  me  through  their  word, 
that  they  all  may  be  one,  as  thou,  Father,  art  in 
me  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us ; 
that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  has  sent  me, 
....  and  hast  loved  them  as  thou  hast  loved  me.' 

"  Here  is  our  warrant  of  fundamental  union," 
added  Mr.  Owen,  whose  fair  face  had  brightened 
as  he  repeated  the  blessed  words,  "  and  we  all  hold 
the  rock,  Jesus  Christ.  It  seems  like  shipwrecked 
men  quarrelling  about  the  out  of  their  clothes  to 
allude  to  any  non-essential  points  of  opinion  here, 
stranded  as  we  are  in  a  continent  of  paganism." 

"  Mr.  Mason  seems  to  speak  Caffre  well." 

"  I  suppose  he  is  ten  years  in  the  country,  and 
has  had  considerable  experience  of  native  character 
and  usage.  He  is  a  valuable  guide  to  me." 

"  I  wish  he  had  adhered  to  the  native  name  for 
his  station  then.  Why  call  it  Tabor?  Such 
names  are  out  of  place  except  in  Palestine." 


56  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  As  to  native  names  for  missionary  stations, 
Charley,  will  you  tell  me  how  many  native  towns 
or  villages  you  have  met  with  in  all  your  travels 
having  well-defined  names,  or  in  fact  any  names 
of  any  sort  ?" 

Mr.  Enfield  laughed  : 

"  Well,  I  confess  that  their  kraals  are  shifting  as 
quicksands,  and  generally  are  called  after  the  resi- 
dent chief  at  the  time — a  fickle  authority." 

"  And  you  might  go  to  the  village  of  this  year 
and  find  no  more  trace  of  it  next  summer  than  of 
an  ostrich's  nest  in  the  desert." 

"  I  acknowledge  my  objection  is  untenable.  I 
suppose  this  tableland  had  no  name  before  Mr. 
Mason's  settlement  arose,  so  he  had  a  right  to 
name  it  as  he  pleased ;  but  I  wish  it  was  in  native 
words." 

"  Good  work  is  done  in  Tabor,  notwithstanding, 
and  such  as  will  stand  fire  at  the  last,"  said  Mr. 
Owen.  "You  must  see  some  of  it  ere  you  go; 
but  I  suppose  it  can  be  no  novelty  to  you." 

Mr.  Enfield  laughed  again  : 

"  I  confess  that  I  have  not  sojourned  much  at 
missionary  stations  in  Africa.  Perhaps  my  preju- 
dice was  unwarrantable,  but  I  met  with  one  or  two 
atrocious  rogues  who  professed  to  be  ( mission 


THE  FOJNTAIN  KLOOF.  57 

Caffres,'  and  I  took  a  dislike  and  distrust  to  the 
lot," 

"Rightly  described,  Charley.  'Prejudice'  and 
'  dislike'  are  suitable  words,  and  contain  an  admis- 
sion of  your  indefensible  conduct.  But  you  would 
not  describe  the  English  nation  as  universal  thieves 
and  murderers  because  a  few  Englishmen  are  pun- 
ished for  those  crimes  yearly,  eh  ?" 

"  I  never  could  contend  with  you,  Owen,  as  you 
know ;  you  always  cut  right  to  the  root  of  what- 
ever was  weak  or  wrong  about  me,"  said  Mr.  En- 
field,  rising  and  going  to  the  window,  which  was 
an  opening  with  the  shutter  drawn  back.  "  I  hear 
the  crack  of  Jan's  whip ;  my  people  are  coming 
up.  Now  there's  a  Hottentot,  the  thickest  head  I 
ever  came  across — good  only  for  driving  oxen,  and 
with  a  brain  duller  than  his  beasts.  What  would 
you  do  to  civilize  or  Christianize  such  an  one  ?" 

Philip  Owen  came  to  the  other  side  of  the  glass- 
less  window  before  he  replied.  In  the  distance 
they  could  see  the  wagon  and  suite  slowly  gaining 
way  across  the  plain  toward  the  beehive  huts,  and 
yellow  Jan  flourishing  his  tremendous  whip  over 
the  mottled  backs  of  his  team. 

"  My  belief  is,"  said  the  missionary,  "  that  God 
has  made  his  salvation  simple  enough  for  the  very 


58  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

simplest  of  his  reasoning  and  immortal  creatures. 
That  poor  Hottentot  knows,  at  all  events,  that  he 
must  die;  he  has  a  mysterious  dread  of  certain 
supernatural  powers,  whether  sorcerers  or  rain- 
makers or  the  spirits  of  his  ancestors.  Now  here 
in  his  nature  lies  the  foundation  of  religion.  I 
would  take  him  at  the  universally-admitted  fact  of 
death,  and  teach  him,  as  did  Paul,  'Jesus  and  the 
resurrection.' " 

"  Strange !"  ejaculated  Mr.  Enfield  ;  "  I  found 
my  servant  extemporizing  somewhat  yesterday  to 
my  Caffres  on  those  principles.  Gilbert  is  n 
shrewd,  conscientious  fellow,  and  has  taken  it  into 
his  head  that  he  ought  to  try  and  enlighten  the 
heathen  about  him ;  and  he  began  with  the  resur- 
rection, for  he  finds  it  the  most  striking  fact." 

"  It  is  the  fact  which  astonished  the  Roman 
world  under  the  emperors,  and  helped  to  convert 
thousands  by  the  lips  of  the  apostles;  and  the  real- 
izing of  it  would  go  far  toward  arresting  even  the 
most  thoughtless  men  now.  You,  Charles  En- 
fit'ld,"  and  he  laid  his  hand  on  his  arm  affection- 
atety — "you,  wealthy,  young,  strong,  enjoying  all 
this  world's  goods,  if  even  you  could  bring  the 
cardinal  truth  of  the  resurrection  vividly  before 
your  mind  for  an  hour,  and  regard  yourself  as  an 


THE  FOUNTAIN  Kl  OOF.  59 

actor  in  the  stupendous  scene,  it  might  change  the 
whole  of  your  existence,  as  it  wants  to  be  changed." 

The  young  man  forthwith  put  on  the  mask 
which  his  tempter  had  ready,  shook  his  handsome 
head  with  an  apparent  carelessness,  and  declared 
that  he  was  perfectly  satisfied  as  he  was. 

"  Perfectly  satisfied  !  Your  immortal  nature 
satisfied  with  the  fashionable  idleness  of  a  rich 
man's  life,  with  sporting  successes  and  such 
things  !  It  is  a  libel  on  your  soul.  You  slander 
yourself;  and  as  I  knew  you,  old  friend,  even  in 
earliest  youth  the  husks  did  not  content  you." 

"  And  have  you  found  the  world  better  than 
husks?"  he  asked. 

"  I  have  since  I  became  a  Christian.  Every 
common  event  and  common  enjoyment  is  nobler 
and  happier  since  my  life  is  linked  with  God's 
life." 

They  diverged  into  talk  about  old  times  and 
college  friends.  Mr.  Enfield  had  several  pieces  of 
late  information  for  Mr.  Owen. 

"  I  have  not  seen  a  newspaper  for  six  months," 
says  the  latter — "  an  English  paper." 

"  You  used  to  be  such  a  politician.  Do  you  re- 
member the  debates  we  held  in  Fitzroy's  rooms  ? 
And  you  have  given  up  all  that — politics,  litera- 


60  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

ture,  the  stir  of  European  society  ?  Philip,  is  if 
wise  ?  Can  you  persevere  in  such  self-denial  ?" 

"  I  know  a  person  who  gave  up  the  same — ay, 
and  more — for  the  purpose  of  hunting  wild  ani- 
mals for  a  couple  of  years.  He  did  not  call  it 
self-denial,"  said  Mr.  Owen;  "and  my  object  is 
the  noblest  which  any  one  can  propound  to  him- 
self, even  the  saving  of  souls.  Ah,  my  friend,  one 
soul  would  he  worth  my  lifetime!" 

Presently  they  came  out  among  the  beehive 
huts,  and  saw  the  troops  of  cattle  driving  to  their 
pens  to  be  milked  and  tended  by  the  men  of  the 
settlement,  for  with  this  pastoral  people,  whose 
wealth  is  kine,  all  offices  connected  with  the  herd 
and  dairy  belong  to  the  master  of  the  house.  A 
\voman  milking  a  cow  would  be  a  most  extra- 
ordinary anomaly  in  Caffre  eyes — nearly  as  bad  as 
a  man  digging  or  hoeing  in  the  fields,  which  last 
would  correspond  with  our  idea  of  a  man's  hem- 
ming a  pocket-handkerchief.  And  the  still  eve- 
ning air  resounded  with  the  quaint,  modulated 
cattle-calls  and  monotonous  Caffre  chants  from 
various  huts,  among  which  Jan's  exhortations  to 
the  oxen  in  his  native  slick-slack  tongue  were 
audible  to  his  master's  ears.  The  wagon  was  out- 
spanning  in  the  shade. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

LIKATLO'S    FEAR. 

MEAL  among  Europeans,  with  the  civil- 
ized appurtenances  of  table  and  chairs,  was 
new  enough  to  Mr.  Enfield  to  be  very 
pleasing.  Mrs.  Mason  had  done  her  best 
that  it  should  be  home-like  for  the  stranger  Eng- 
lishman's sake — had  brought  out  her  cherished 
little  store  of  tea,  kept  jealously  air-tight  against 
sick  emergencies,  and  brewed  some  as  a  treat  for 
the  evening. 

"  This  is  unwonted  luxury,"  said  the  good  mis- 
sionary when  his  guest  remarked  on  the  fragrance 
of  the  beverage  to  unused  senses.  "  In  honour  of 
Mr.  Enfield,  I  suppose,  dear?" 

Mrs.  Mason  smiled.  It  was  considerable  en- 
joyment to  herself  to  preside  at  a  tea-table  resem- 
bling that  of  her  English  home.  As  for  the  baby, 
his  round  eyes  marvelled  much  at  the  bright  tea- 
pot and  the  new  sweet  drink  whereof  he  received 
a  sip.  He  was  a  grave,  thoughtf  il  baby  all  the 

61 


62  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

evening,  cogitating  concerning  this  and  the  strange 
white  man  :  he  was  accustomed  to  any  amount  of 
brown  ones,  and  particularly  loved  his  glistening 
Caflfre  nurse-maid.  A  well-behaved  baby  was  he, 
too,  by  and  by,  when  the  meal  was  over  and  nestled 
on  his  mother's  lap,  he  watched  the  gathering  of  the 
servants  and  neighbouring  Caffres  to  evening  wor- 
ship. 

"Would  not  your  people  like  to  attend?"  asked 
Mr.  Owen,  suddenly  rousing  himself  from  a  sort 
of  abstraction  into  which  he  often  fell. 

"  I  dare  say  Gilbert  'would/'  said  Mr.  Enfield  ; 
and  a  minute  or  two  afterward  Gilbert  saw  this 
tall,  fair-haired  Englishman  striding  toward  his 
encampment  beneath  some  widespread  sycamores, 
and  presently  his  hand  was  grasped  warmly  and 
the  deep  eyes  looked  into  his. 

"You  have  been  doing  your  duty  by  talking  to 
these  poor  people,"  said  the  missionary.  "  God 
will  bless  you  for  it.  Bring  them  to  our  evening 
service — yonder." 

"  I  don't  know — they  have  never  seen  such  a 
thing,"  said  Gilbert — "  I  don't  know  how  they 
will  conduct  themselves." 

"It  would  be  better  to  have  the  service  out  in 
the  open  air,"  Mr.  Owen  remarked,  following  his 


TEE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  63 

own  thoughts  audibly.  "  Yes,  it  will  be  a  witness 
to  the  heathen.  Wait  until  I  come  back;"  and  he 
walked  away  to  Mr.  Mason's  house  quickly,  which 
was,  indeed,  his  manner  of  doing  everything. 

His  brother  missionary  readily  agreed  that  their 
family  prayer  should  be  a  public  worship  this 
night.  Most  of  the  beehive  huts  turned  out  their 
inhabitants  like  a  swarm  of  brown  bees,  and  all 
came  clustering  round  the  mission-house.  Within 
the  low  paling  in  front  sat  Mrs.  Mason  and  the 
grave-eyed  baby  wrapped  in  a  shawl,  Mr.  Enfield 
beside  her.  Mr.  Owen  stood  beside  Gilbert  in  the 
front  ranks  without ;  Mr.  Mason  on  the  doorstep, 
which  gave  him  a  slight  elevation.  The  natives 
were  chiefly  in  their  favourite  squatting  attitude 
all  about,  except  certain  of  the  principal  men,  who 
copied  the  European  mien  pretty  closely,  and  were 
dressed  in  curious  adaptations  of  European  clothes. 

Great  was  the  silence.  Even  the  woolly  heads 
of  the  infants  lay  still  against  their  mothers'  ka- 
rosses,  and  every  glittering  eye  was  fixed  on  the 
white  u  captain  of  news,"  as  the  Caffre  calls  his 
missionary,  when  Mr.  Mason  gave  out  the  words 
of  a  simple  hymn  and  began  to  sing.  He  was 
joined  by  voice  after  voice,  for  the  natives  have  a 
natural  aptitude  for  sweet  sounds,  and  those  of 


64  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

the  settlement  who  attended  worship  had  often 
heard  this  hymn — a  wild,  pleasing  harmony  Mr. 
Enfield  thought  it,  listening  with  his  critical  Eng- 
lish ears.  The  meaning  was  an  ascription  of 
praise  to  the  great  God  who  made  earth  and  hea- 
ven, sun  and  stars,  as  clearly  worded  as  it  could 
be  and  with  as  simple  ideas  as  possible.  Many  a 
native  eye  was  lifted  to  the  far  blue  firmament, 
beyond  which  dwelt  the  white  man's  Deity,  while 
the  untaught  brain  took  in  the  fact  of  his  creating 
power,  his  ownership  of  all  things. 

Mr.  Mason  spoke  about  him — the  All-seeing. 
No  Caffre  goes  into  his  hut,  to  his  cattle-post  miles 
away,  into  forests  however  dark,  into  deserts  how- 
ever solitary,  but  the  great  God  looks  at  him,  is 
watching  him.  No  Caffre  tells  a  lie,  cheats  his 
fellow  with  treacherous  words,  but  the  great  God 
is  listening  to  him.  Be  the  night  ever  so  dark, 
the  hut  ever  so  closely  shut,  God  can  see,  and  see 
deeper  than  the  outward  doings — see  the  thoughts 
of  his  heart  deep  beneath  the  brown  skin.  Be  the 
storm  never  so  loud,  the  whisper  never  so  low, 
God  can  hear — everywhere,  at  all  times. 

They  listened  with  breathless  attention.  The 
missionary  opened  his  English  Bible  and  translated 
the  last  incident  of  Hagar's  story  for  them.  How 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  65 

peculiarly  suited  for  South  African  minds!  The 
travelling  in  the  desert,  the  water-bottle  on  the 
woman's  shoulder,  its  becoming  spent,  the  boy 
dying  of  thirst,  the  mother's  despairing  cry,  "  Let 
me  not  see  the  death  of  the  child;"  the  angel's 
voice  from  the  sky,  the  well  suddenly  revealed — all 
setting  forth  God's  care  and  his  all-seeing. 

"Marvellously  adapted  to  their  peculiarities," 
thought  Mr.  Enfield.  "  'Seems  as  if  it  had  been 
written  expressly  for  such  as  they."  And  if  he 
looked  through  the  Bible  he  might  say  the  same 
of  fifty  other  chapters,  with  narratives  full  of  Ori- 
ental usages  and  scenery,  which  come  more  home 
to  Caffres  than  to  Britons.  For  it  is  the  book  of 
no  especial  nation ;  God  has  sent  it  to  be  the  Book 
of  the  World. 

"Is  this  your  God  who  will  raise  the  dead?" 
whispered  Sackaboni,  who  as  usual  had  kept  close 
behind  Gilbert.  Mr.  Mason  had  paused  to  speak 
a  few  words  of  address  in  English.  "And  does  he 
see  us  all,  now,  here  ?" 

"  Yes,  yes ;  I  will  tell  you  more  round  the  fires, 
by  and  by ;"  for  Gilbert  wanted  to  attend  to  the 
white  man's  share  of  the  service.  And  Mr.  Mason 
spoke  of  what  their  lives  ought  to  be  in  sight  of 
these  heathen,  who  would  judge  of  their  belief  in 

5 


66  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

God's  all-seeing  by  the  righteousness  of  their  con- 
duct. He  prayed  that  they  might  be  able  to  bear 
witness  of  their  faith  by  their  lives;  and  afterward, 
changing  his  language  to  the  sonorous  Caffre,  he 
asked  the  great  God  to  teach  these  ignorant  souls 
concerning  himself  and  concerning  Jesus  theSaviour. 

What  questions  had  Sackaboni  round  the  fires 
that  night !  Gilbert  was  sorely  puzzled  to  answer 
some.  "  This  God  of  the  umfundise  (teacher)  can- 
not be  the  God  of  massa,  for  massa  does  not  kneel 
to  him?  Why  not  massa  kneel  to  him?  Why 
not  massa  gather  his  people  and  teach  them  like 
this  umfundise?" 

The  three  European  gentlemen  were  conversing 
together  in  the  small  sitting-room  of  Mr.  Mason's 
house,  when  the  door  opened  silently  and  a  tall, 
fine-looking  Caffre  stepped  within  and  shut  it  be- 
hind him.  There  he  stood  mutely,  his  gleaming 
eyes  looking  from  one  to  another,  his  kaross  of  ox- 
hide faced  with  leopard-skin  wrapped  round  his 
body,  and  one  bronzed  hand — as  finely  shaped  as 
an  antique,  thought  Mr.  Enfield — grasping  an 
assagai  or  strong,  short  spear. 

"  Good-evening,  Likatlo,"  said  the  master  of  the 
house,  rising.  "  What  is  this  ?"  for  the  gloom  of 
the  Caffre's  face  and  his  weapon  surprised  him. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  67 

"  Likatlo's  heart  is  sore,"  replied  the  chief,  re- 
fusing an  offered  seat;  "Likatlo's  ears  have  heard 
bad  news  and  his  heart  is  in  pain." 

Gradually  he  glided  from  the  standing  posture 
and  sat  on  the  ground,  his  knees  bent,  his  arms 
folded,  his  figure  cowering.  Mr.  Mason  knew  it 
was  the  attitude  expressive  of  extreme  fear. 

The  missionary's  face  paled  somewhat,  not  for 
himself,  but  for  those  dearer  than  his  own  life.  He 
felt  a  flash  of  thankfulness  that  his  wife  was  not 
present;  he  had  seen  her  a  few  minutes  before 
sleeping  beside  her  child  in  the  inner  room;  and 
he  said, 

"But  what  is  it,  Likatlo?  what  makes  you 
afraid?" 

"The  chiefs,"  he  replied,  "Makomo  and  San- 
dilli,  son  of  Gaika.  There  is  war  coming  against 
the  white  men.  We  are  between  fire  and  water. 
I  have  brought  this  assagai  to  show  that  I  will 
defend  you.  Likatlo  will  defend  his  missionary. 
But  Likatlo's  heart  is  sore,  for  Makomo  is  strong 
and  Likatlo's  arm  is  weak." 

They  drew  all  his  knowledge  from  him  in  bits. 
He  had  been  at  a  distant  cattle-post  and  learned 
there  from  some  fugitive  Caffres  the  rising  of  the 
chiefs  along  the  border.  He  had  travelled  rapidly 


68  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

on  oxback  with  the  news  to  the  station,  arriving 
just  at  dark. 

Narrowly  he  watched  the  faces  of  the  Europeans 
as  they  spoke  to  each  other.  Mr.  Enfield  was  dis- 
posed rather  to  despise  the  chief's  timidity,  until  a 
glance  toward  the  mute,  observing  face  over  the 
folds  of  the  kaross  gave  him  another  idea.  "  He 
wishes  to  terrify  the  white  men  into  departure." 
This  would  be  quite  in  accordance  with  native  du- 
plicity. 

They  had  burned  the  mission-station  toward  the 
north,  quoth  Likatlo ;  they  were  coming  south  like 
a  river  whose  waters  are  loosed  into  the  old,  long- 
dried  channel  by  the  rains  of  winter.  They  would 
sweep  away  all  things  into  the  ocean,  "  where  the 
great  water  ends  in  blue  air."  The  warriors  of 
Makomo  were  more  in  number  than  the  locusts 
which  devour  the  fields  from  green  to  brown  in  a 
night,  and  their  assagais  like  the  branches  in  the 
forest. 

"  I  will  send  trustworthy  messengers  northward 
for  tidings,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  "with  the  fleetest 
oxen  in  the  team,  such  as  could  go  fifty  miles  in  a 
day,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  we  shall  find  these 
statements  much  exaggerated.  There  is  little  rea- 
son for  fear,  much  less  for  despair.  Even  in  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  69 

worst  case  ray  wagon  shall  be  a  retreat  for  your  wife 
and  child,  and  bring  you  all  to  safer  quarters." 

"  But  my  work,  my  work !"  said  the  missionary, 
from  his  grieved  heart.  "Is  my  work  to  stand 
still  or  be  utterly  ruined  by  an  irruption  of  these 
barbarians?  Dear  sir,  I  am  most  thankful  to 
you,"  and  he  grasped  his  guest's  hand  warmly. 
"  Their  safety  is  more  to  me  than  life,  but  I  can- 
not bear  to  leave  my  post  and  have  all  my  work 
undone." 

"  Brother,"  said  Mr.  Owen,  "  who  is  the  Master 
of  your  work  ?  Can  aught  happen  without  him  ? 
We  are  merely  the  instruments  in  a  Hand  that  can 
do  no  wrong  nor  mistake ;  if  he  lays  us  aside  for  a 
time  and  uses  us  not,  be  assured  all  is  right  and 
all  is  well." 

They  concluded  to  send  the  messenger,  as  Mr. 
Enfield  had  indicated.  Gilbert  was  roused  from 
his  sleep  in  the  wagon  and  instructed  to  despatch 
the  trustiest  of  his  staff,  Andries  and  Sackaboni,  on 
the  fleetest  oxen  before  daybreak  in  search  of  news. 
This  was  accordingly  done. 

The  stir  among  the  brown  people  was  consider- 
able. Now  some  of  them  really  valued  the  labours 
of  the  missionary,  and  would  be  very  sorry  if  he 
were  compelled  to  remove.  They  would  keep  him 


70  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

if  they  could  do  it  safely.  But  strong  claims  of  kin- 
ship and  colour  would  move  them  to  join  the  in- 
surgents against  the  whites.  Mr.  Mason  looked 
sadly  round  on  the  germs  of  civilization  which  he 
had  planted  and  which  bore  fair  promise.  Even 
the  material  results  of  his  labour — the  houses  and 
partially-built  chapel,  the  cultivated  garden — were 
very  dear  to  him.  He  could  not  contemplate  their 
destruction  without  a  pang,  but  dearer  by  far  were 
the  souls  of  the  people  whom  he  should  leave  in 
the  blackness  of  darkness.  And  he  dreaded  much 
that  Likatlo's  fear  was  true. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

A    MIDSUMMER    CHRISTMAS. 

'T  dawned  with  a  brilliance  such  as  we  north- 
erners have  never  beheld,  and  five  hours 
earlier  than  the  pallid  December  light 
would  kindle  in  the  cold  English  east  on 
the  contemporary  day.  A  bright  rose-colour  was 
painted  along  the  verge  of  the  clear  vault,  and 
gradually  diffused  upward,  like  tides  of  a  glorions 
sea  gaining  flow  over  a  star-strand.  The  strange 
table-tops  of  the  mountains  were  gilded  with  a 
ruddy  glow — warming  the  naked  crags  as  a  smile 
warms  the  hardest  face — before,  from  the  low- 
lands, the  cause  of  all  the  glory  was  visible,  rolling 
upward  a  pure  golden  ball  over  purple  hills  to  the 
eastward. 

News  had  not  yet  come.  The  messengers  had 
received  orders  to  retrace  their  steps  rapidly  on  the 
earliest  discovery  of  the  savage  army  said  to  be  on 
its  march.  Mr.  Enfield  knew  that  he  could  rely 

on  them.     He  was  confident  now  that  the  reports 

71 


72  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

had  been  grossly  exaggerated,  and  the  warlike 
movement,  if  such  existed  at  all,  was  limited  to 
tribe  against  tribe. 

His  rhetoric  did  not  very  much  convince  the 
missionary's  wife,  though  he  pitied  her  careworn 
face  and  did  his  best  to  assuage  her  fear.  And 
she,  poor  little  woman  !  was  presently  struck  with 
another  dread — that  she  was  exemplifying  a  most 
unchristian  distrust  and  anxiety  before  this 
worldly-minded  Englishman. 

"  He  must  think  I  do  not  believe  in  the  care 
and  love  of  God,  I  am  daily  exhibiting  such  sinful 
fear  and  nervousness  !  I  wish — I  wish  I  could 
get  over  it.  I  will  pray  to  God  for  more  strength 
of  mind.  Only  for  baby,  I  don't  think  I  would 
be  so  much  afraid.  As  if  I  ought  not  to  commit 
to  God  the  care  of  him  also !  I  must  try  for  more 
faith,  to  show  Mr.  Enfield  how  peaceful  a  Christian 
can  be  in  danger." 

She  looked  up  from  the  preparations  for  break- 
fast and  found  her  guest's  eyes  fixed  on  her.  Pro- 
fessedly, he  had  been  reading. 

"  You  spoke  aloud,"  said  he,  in  explanation. 
"  You  said  something  about  a  Christian  being  in 
danger." 

She  coloured  slightly: 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  73 

"  Did  I  ?  It  is  a  habit  I  have  got  from  beiug 
a,  good  deal  alone,  or  among  the  natives  who  don't 
understand  me.  But — I  was  thinking — you  can 
have  no  high  opinion  of  my  religion,  Mr.  Enfield," 
and  the  colour  became  brighter;  "I  have  showed 
so  much  want  of  faith  in  my  fears." 

"  It  is  natural,"  he  said ;  "  but  I  don't  think 
there  is  adequate  cause  for  alarm.  At  least  I,  who 
have  lived  among  these  savage  tribes  so  long — " 

"  Natural !"  she  repeated,  disregarding  the  rest 
of  his  sentence,  "  and  therefore  not  of  grace.  I 
ought  to  evince  a  confidence  in  my  God  and  Sa- 
viour, and  a  firm  persuasion  that  he  will  overrule 
everything  for  our  good.  And  indeed  I  believe 
that  he  will,  Mr.  Enfield,  however  adverse  circum- 
stances may  look,  for  he  has  said,  ( All  things  work 
together  for  good  to  those  who  love  God.'  Now  I 
know  that  I  love  him,  and  my  husband  loves  him, 
and  our  strongest  desire  is  to  advance  his  glory 
and  spread  his  kingdom." 

"  That  meets  the  circumstances,  you  see,"  said 
Mr.  Mason,  who  had  just  entered.  "  It  is  a  promise 
to  those  who  love  God  which  we  may  now  claim. 
To  see  the  present  fruits  of  our  toil  destroyed 
would  be  a  sore  trial,  yet  we  should  not  the  less 
believe  that  God  would  ;>ut  of  evil  bring  greater 


74  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

good.  What  if  these  partially-instructed  natives 
bo  dispersed  among  the  surrounding  tribes,  carry- 
ing their  knowledge  of  the  first  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion  wherever  they  go  ?  They  will 
tell  of  the  white  man's  great  God  who  lives  above 
the  sky—" 

"  And  we  have  a  few,  dear,"  put  in  his  wife, 
"  who,  we  trust,  could  speak  from  the  heart  about 
their  Saviour  Jesus.  Do  you  recollect  George 
Schmidt's  old  Hottentot  woman  ?" 

"  Mrs.  Mason  is  reminding  me,"  said  the  mis- 
sionary, in  answer  to  his  guest's  look  of  inquiry, 
"  of  a  mission-station  broken  up  under  very  unfa- 
vourable circumstances,  which  yet  bore  fruit  to  the 
honour  of  God  after  the  labourer  had  been  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  work  undone,  as  he  thought. 
You  have  heard  of  George  Schmidt,  the  Mora- 
vian ?" 

"Never."  Such  obscure  persons  were  not  in 
Mr.  Enfield's  list  of  celebrities. 

"  He  was  the  first  who  thought  of  coming  to  tell 
the  Hottentots  that  the  great  God  loved  them  and 
wanted  them  to  be  happy  for  ever ;  and  he  was  but 
a  German  peasant,  utterly  ignorant  of  any  lan- 
guage except  his  own — without  money  or  influence. 
How  was  his  purpose  to  be  accomplished  ?  I  do 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  75 

not  exactly  remember  the  details,"  added  Mr. 
Mason,  "  but  I  know  that  he  reached  the  Cape, 
and  got  to  the  interior,  where  he  settled  at  Bavian's 
Kloof,  signifying  the  Baboon's  Glen,  as  you  know, 
sir.  I  have  seen  the  place,  and  now  it  is  called 
the  Valley  of  Grace,  or,  in  the  Low  Dutch,  Gena- 
dendal,  because  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  has  indeed 
changed  the  wilderness  into  a  fruitful  field;  and 
where  George  Schmidt  gathered  forty-seven  of  the 
most  degraded  of  mankind  to  hear  his  gospel  news, 
you  may  now  count  the  baptized  Hottentots  by 
thousands,  and  behold  a  village  of  neat  houses  and 
streets  instead  of  a  filthy  kraal." 

"  I  thought  you  said  that  the  mission  had  been 
broken  up  and  Schmidt  compelled  to  leave." 

"So  he  was,  but  God  has  promised  that  his 
word  never  shall  return  to  him  void  ;  and  the  seed 
of  eternal  life  preserved  its  vitality  in  a  wonderful 
way,  despite  all  outward  disadvantages.  It  is  some- 
thing more  than  a  hundred  years  ago  since  he  began 
his  mission,  about  1740:  and  the  Dutch  boers,  who 
regarded  the  Hottentots  as  their  natural-born  slaves, 
hated  him  and  his  attempt  to  Christianize  them, 
and  threw  every  possible  obstacle  in  his  way.  Again 
and  again  he  was  obliged  to  go  to  Cape  ToAvn  to 
defend  himself  from  false  accusations  before  the 


76  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

governor;  at  last  he  was  obliged  to  go  to  Amster- 
dam, and  finally  was  refused  permission  ever  to  re- 
turn to  Africa.  He  had  left  behind  a  few  converts, 
who  kept  together  for  a  while,  meeting  for  worship 
under  the  fruit  trees  which  he  had  planted ;  and 
when,  years  after  George  Schmidt  had  passed  to 
his  reward  in  the  heavens — and  it  is  remarkable 
that  he  died  unexpectedly  and  without  apparent 
disease  while  kneeling  in  prayer  for  Africa — when 
successors  came  to  take  up  the  first  labourer's 
work,  they  were  cheered  by  finding  an  aged  woman 
whom  he  had  baptized,  and  who  for  fifty  years, 
living  without  means  of  grace  except  the  reading 
of  a  Dutch  New  Testament,  had  kept  gospel  faith 
alive  in  her  heart.  My  wife  alluded  to  this 
a  while  since — but  I  am  wearying  you,  Mr.  En- 
field." 

"  No.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  fine,  persevering 
fellow.  I  wonder  that  I  never  chanced  to  hear  of 
him,  but  my  reading  has  never  lain  much  in  the 
theological  line.  Now  I  think  my  friend  Philip 
Owen  would  be  just  such  another." 

"  He  has  great  self-devotion,"  said  the  mission- 
ary. "  Our  intercourse  is  very  happy,  and  there  is 
promise  of  wide  usefulness  in  his  character  and 
attainments." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  77 

"  He  is  giving  up  so  much  in  England,"  ob- 
served Mr.  Enfield. 

"  My  dear  sir,  is  not  a  single  soul  of  the  meanest 
human  creature,  redeemed  to  Christ  and  made  ca- 
pable of  eternal  joy  instead  of  eternal  pain,  worth 
any  sacrifice  we  can  suffer  ?" 

This  argument  of  the  vast  value  of  the  soul  met 
Mr.  Enfield  everywhere  and  on  all  sides.  He 
could  not  deny  nor  gainsay  it.  And  these  Eu- 
ropeans made  it  the  mainspring  of  their  lives. 

"  Do  you  think  the  advent  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
would  ever  have  taken  place  but  for  the  transcend- 
ent worth  of  the  human  soul?  And  that  is  as 
God  sees  it — not  according  to  our  fallible  vision." 

"True;  but,  Mr.  Mason,  why  don't  half  the 
Christian  world  go  forth  as  missionaries  if  that  is 
their  conviction  ?  I  cannot  account  for  the  luke- 
warmness  about  missions  with  such  a  tremendous 
belief  in  the  background.  Why,  if  I  believed 
that  there  would  be  an  earthquake  in  this  valley 
to-morrow,  would  not  I  use  superhuman  exertion 
to  have  everybody  out  of  it,  well  frightened  out 
of  it,  before  the  fatal  hour  ?" 

"  I  have  often  wondered  at  the  same,"  said  Mr. 
Mason.  "  The  cares  of  this  world  and  the  deceit- 
fulness  of  riches  blind  Christians  at  home  and  make 


78  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

them  forget  their  Lord's  commission,  '  Go  ye  into 
all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature.' " 

"And  then  the  Lord  Jesus  himself  was  the  first 
missionary,"  observed  his  wife,  gently.  "All  the 
way  from  heaven  to  earth — surely  a  greater  descent 
than  from  England  to  the  meanest  savage." 

"  I  am  very  glad  of  my  university  distinctions,'' 
said  Mr.  Owen,  taking  his  seat  at  the  table.  "  J  t 
is  some  trifle  to  give  up  for  my  Saviour — the  hope 
of  further  successes." 

"  Yet  you  were  an  ambitious  fellow  once,"  said 
his  old  friend.  "  Well,  I  must  rather  envy  you 
this  new  enthusiasm,  and  hope  it  will  continue  as 
powerful  as  now.  But,  Owen,  isn't  this  an  odd 
Christmas  day?  Can  you  realize  it  to  be  the 
snowy,  sloppy  day  of  holly  and  mistletoe  in  old 
England?  I  just  can't  conjure  up  a  leafless  tree 
before  my  imagination  in  the  sight  of  such  lux- 
uriance as  I  see  yonder." 

He  was  standing  by  the  open  window,  looking 
forth  on  the  waving  corn,  the  flowering  mimosas 
and  acacias,  dispersed  with  the  date-palm  and  ele- 
gant mshoma,  as  un-Christmas-like  a  landscape  as 
could  well  be  dreamed. 

"  I  am  as  ambitious  as  ever,"  said  Owen,  who 


THE  FOUNTAIN  .KLOOF.  79 

had  risen  to  stand  by  him,  "  but  my  ambition  is  for 
heaven  and  not  for  earth."  Then  in  a  louder  tone 
he  added,  "Yes,  the  difference  of  the  day  puzzled 
me  much  last  year  —  my  first  Christmas  in  the 
country  :  it  does  not  seem  so  strange  now." 

"  I  was  away  in  Namaqua-land  hunting  lions 
last  summer  a  year  ago.  The  day  never  occurred 
to  me  till  it  was  past,  actually." 

Now  breakfast  was  in  general  a  very  simple 
aifair  with  the  mission  family.  No  delicacies  to 
tempt  appetite  had  room  in  this  primitive  settle- 
ment. Porridge  of  boiled  corn  eaten  with  milk 
was  the  staple  of  whatever  meal  was  not  beef. 
Little  luxuries  which  we  should  be  puzzled  to  do 
without — tea,  coffee,  sugar,  butter — were  systemati- 
cally unknown.  "  What  a  trifling  deprivation  !" 
cries  somebody  who  fares  sumptuously  every  day, 
and  has  at  least  two  courses  to  his  dinner.  We 
invite  you  to  reject  the  trifles  aforesaid  for  a  month, 
and  opine  you  will  occasionally  cast  a  lingering 
glance  after  them. 

For  the  English  guest  Mrs.  Mason  had  made  a 
special  effort  to  provide  at  least  the  semblance  of 
an  English  breakfast.  On  the  preceding  morning 
she  had  furnished  coffee,  by  courtesy  so  styled,  for 
its  original  was  naught  but  roasted  barley  powder 


80  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

sweetened  with  honey.  Mr.  Enfield  applauded  the 
idea  and  its  execution,  nevertheless  he  brought  in 
from  the  wagon  sundry  packets  at  eventide. 

"  Mrs.  Mason,  perhaps  you  wouldn't  mind  taking 
these  things  off  my  hands;  I  am  going  to  the 
colony,  as  you  know,  and  thence  to  England,  and 
to  carry  them  any  farther  would  be  just  bringing 
coals  to  Newcastle.  These  tins  have  preserved 
meats  and  soups — a  few,  left  from  my  desert  stock, 
and  there  are  just  two  or  three  custard  and  pudding 
cases,  and  a  little  tea  and  such  things  which  I  hope 
may  not  prove  dead." 

She  found  coffee  and  sugar  and  pepper  packets 
after  he  had  rapidly  retreated,  not  waiting  for  her 
thanks  :  how  valuable  all  were  only  a  housekeeper 
hundreds  of  miles  from  a  shop  can  tell.  So  her 
Christmas-day  fare  was  furnished  forth  much  better 
than  she  expected;  quite  like  the  home  tables 
round  which  dear  ones  would  assemble  on  this 
morning  and  evening  and  waft  a  happy  wish  to- 
ward South  Africa. 

In  the  half-finished  little  chapel  a  congregation 
assembled;  prominent  among  whom  was  the  chief 
Likatlo,  newly  greased  and  stained  with  ochre  of 
a  dull  red,  which  gave  him  the  hue  of  a  bronze 
figure  cooling  from  fire-heat.  Likewise  was  his 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  81 

head  done  up  in  a  collection  of  tiny  hard  rolls  of 
his  woolly  black  hair,  which  studded  it  over  like 
the  tops  of  ten-penny  nails.  Metal  beads  gleamed 
round  his  throat  and  brass  rings  on  his  right  arm  ; 
his  kaross  seemed  new  and  had  the  usual  chieftain's 
trimming  of  spotted  skin,  which  is  a  distinction  as 
much  valued  among  the  Caifres  as  the  star  of  an 
order  with  us.  It  can  only  be  worn  by  the  blue- 
blooded — that  is,  by  the  descendant  of  undoubted 
chiefs  for  generations. 

In  fact,  Likatlo  had  assumed  full  dress,  and 
looked  very  well  pleased  with  himself — so  well 
pleased  that  Mr.  Mason  feared  he  would  not  at- 
tend to  the  address  owing  to  self-gratulation ;  but 
as  the  missionary  went  on  to  give  the  gospel 
narrative  of  the  birth  of  Jesus  and  the  wicked  king 
who  destroyed  the  children  of  Bethlehem,  Likatlo's 
eyes,  at  first  wandering  in  quest  of  admiration,  be- 
came riveted  on  the  preacher. 

And  now  did  Mr.  Enfield,  listening  listlessly  to 
the  oft-told  tale,  behold  a  wondrous,  an  incredible 
thing.  Close  beside  Likatlo  sat  upon  the  ground 
an  aged  Caffre,  whose  curly  hair  was  plentifully 
streaked  with  white.  Once  a  tall  and  powerful 
man,  his  shoulders  were  now  bent  and  his  thin 
frame  wrapped  closely  in  an  old  kaross,  instead  of 


82  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

permitting  the  latter  to  float  loose,  as  with  younger 
men  :  no  beads  nor  other  Caffre  fopperies  glistened 
about  him.  He  was  a  thorough  contrast  to  the 
dandy  Likatlo,  and  might  have  been  the  meanest 
of  the  tribe,  but  for  his  position  so  close  to  the 
chief,  and  a  certain  air  of  dignity  apparent  even  in 
his  crouching  form. 

And  as  the  preaching  proceeded,  Mr.  Enfield, 
glancing  over  the  dusky  audience,  was  startled  to 
perceive  rolling  from  the  deeply-sunk  eyes  of  this 
aged  man  real  tears !  Ay,  over  the  furrowed  brown 
face  glided  the  glittering  drops,  falling  on  his  ox- 
skin  cloak  with  a  rebound.  What,  a  Caffre  feel  so 
deeply !  A  Caffre  be  moved  to  weeping  by  the 
message  of  a  white  man's  sermon  !  It  was  a  phe- 
nomenon altogether  new  to  the  English  observer. 
He  looked  out  for  symptoms  of  make-believe. 
But  what  an  earnest  countenance,  what  absorbed 
attention!  Here  was  no  attempt  at  imposition. 
Sincerity  was  stamped  upon  it  all. 

Then  what  was  the  preacher  saying?  Philip 
Owen  was  now  the  speaker,  and  his  knowledge  of 
the  language  being  small  his  words  were  few  and 
the  utterance  slow.  But  he  talked  of  their  sinful- 
ness — they,  the  congregation  present — and  of  the 
everlasting  love  of  God,  who  had  sent  his  Son  to 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 


83 


deliver  them  from  that  sinful  ness  and  its  awful 
consequences.  Very  simply  was  it  conveyed,  but 
each  phrase  was  weighted  with  its  speaker's  earn- 
estness, which  causes  such  words  to  become  as  nails 
in  a  sure  place  when  fastened  by  "  the  Master  of 
assemblies." 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

IN    THE    KRAAL. 

'HE  aged  Caffre's  face  was  buried  in  his  cloak 
on  his  knees  when  Mr.  Mason  touched  his 
shoulder.  "  Hintsa  need  not  weep/'  he  said, 
"Hintsa  may  rejoice."  The  old  man 
stretched  out  his  hand  and  silently  rose  to  his  feet ; 
he  seemed  not  to  wish  to  trust  himself  with  words, 
but  slowly  left  the  chapel  last  of  all. 

"  "What  strangely  deep  emotion !"  Mr.  Enfield 
could  not  help  observing. 

"Not  strange,  if  we  consider  its  object  his  undy- 
ing soul,"  said  Mr.  Owen,  who  stood  beside  him. 
"  Hintsa  is  half-brother  of  the  chief's  father,  and 
has  for  some  little  time  past  been  under  conviction 
of  sin  very  strongly,  by  the  grace  of  God,  but  he 
cannot  yet  see  his  Saviour.  I  suppose  he  is  now 
gone  into  the  bush  to  pray ;  he  generally  does  so 
after  service." 

"  I  suppose  he  must  have  rather  a  troublesome 

conscience   after  a  life  spent  in  Caffre  practices," 
84 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  85 

remarked  Mr.  Enfield.  "  They  never  seem  to  think 
at  all  of  morality ;  indeed  scarcely  to  know  the  dif- 
ference between  right  and  wrong." 

"  After  all,  the  amount  of  sin  is  not  the  great  ob- 
stacle or  the  great  matter,"  said  the  young  minister. 
"  The  degraded  Caffre  has  not  his  heart  more  natu- 
rally averse  to  God  than  the  amiable  and  civilized 
European,  dear  Enfield." 

"  I  cannot  see  that,"  was  the  reply.  "  Now,  I 
suppose  Hintsa  has  a  few  murders  on  his  soul  and 
innumerable  thefts — cattle-stealing,  for  instance, 
their  crying  sin." 

"  God  knows  them  all,"  said  Mr.  Owen,  solemnly. 
"And  if  he  is  abundantly  willing  to  pardon,  shall 
we  set  limits  to  his  goodness  ?  '  Though  your  sins 
be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  white  as  snow.'  But  I 
do  not  know  that  poor  Hiutsa  has  been  so  bad  as 
you  say,  yet  bad  enough  to  be  lost  for  ever  he 
knows  himself." 

"And  have  you  any  real  cases  of  conversion 
here? — men  or  women  of  whom  you  can  say,  I 
believe  them  to  be  Christians  in  your  highest  ac- 
ceptation of  the  word  ?"  asked  the  stranger. 

"  We  have  two  candidates  for  baptism  besides 
this  Hintsa:  a  young  man  who  is  to-day  at  a 
cattle-post  some  miles  off,  and  an  aged  woman;  his 


86  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

mother,  who  is  too  infirm  to  attend  worship.  But, 
'f  you  like,  we  will  visit  her,  now  that  Mason  has 
gone  to  the  school." 

Mr.  Enfield  acquiesced ;  he  was  getting  rather 
interested  in  this  mission  work — the  investigation 
into  its  reality  whiled  away  time — while  to  his 
friend  Owen  that  work  had  become  woven  with 
his  very  life.  Truly  a  great  change  separated  be- 
tween them  since  the  old  college  days  ! 

From  the  half-finished  chapel  they  walked  toward 
the  chief's  kraal  or  gathering  of  huts.  Principal 
among  these  was  the  cattle-fold,  an  enclosure  of 
wattle-work  made  of  branches  of  trees  interlaced 
with  posts  fixed  in  the  ground  and  high  enough  for 
shelter.  Opposite  the  entrance  to  this  circular  pen 
was  situate  a  hut  larger  than  its  neighbours  and 
more  carefully  finished ;  the  vacant  space  between 
it  and  the  fold  seemed  hard  with  concourse  of  feet ; 
it  was  the  forum  of  the  village,  the  place  for  public 
assemblies. 

"Ah!  there  is  our  most  serious  difficulty,"  ob- 
served Mr.  Owen,  pointing  out  the  large  hut. 
"  Likatlo's  head  wife  dwells  yonder,  and  round  her 
are  the  huts  of  the  inferior  wives.  Polygamy  is 
the  custom  which  of  all  others  comes  be!  ween  the 
Caffre  and  Christianity." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  87 

"  Consequently  would  be  the  best  test  of  his  sin- 
cerity," said  the  stranger.  "  I  would  have  no 
doubt  of  a  man's  thoroughness  who  agreed  to  give 
it  up.  But  I  agree  with  you  in  thinking  it  a  tre- 
mendous obstacle  even  to  the  commonest  civiliza- 
tion." 

"  If  something  could  be  done  to  prevent  the  buy- 
ing of  wives,  there  might  be  hope  of  its  dying  out. 
But  Mason  tells  me  that  the  Caffre  woman  con- 
siders that  no  marriage  which  has  not  been  cemented 
by  the  giving  of  oxen  to  her  relatives.  Nothing 
but  a  spreading  of  education  and  Christian  know- 
ledge seems  likely  to  remove  the  curse  from  the 
coming  generations ;  and  as  for  this  we  must  only 
gather  a  few  here  and  there  who  will  have  strength 
given  them  to  break  the  chain." 

"  Some  young  men  among  my  followers  are 
looked  upon  quite  as  outcasts,  Gilbert  tells  me,  be- 
cause they  have  not  yet  been  able  to  buy  a  wife. 
It  is  a  destructive  system  altogether.  Is  your 
young  convert  married?" 

"  Yes,  but  only  to  one  wife.  Were  he  rich,  I 
suppose  he  would  have  more  ere  now,  when  his 
conscience  sees  the  evil  of  it  and  rejoices  that  he 
has  been  delivered  from  the  snare.  Here  is  his  hut 
— he  lives  with  his  mother — and  his  wife's  hut,  as 


88  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

usual,  is  near  by.  For  you  know,  of  course,  that 
every  married  woman  rears  her  own  dwelling  and 
lives  in  it  independently  of  her  husband." 

"A  polygamic  arrangement,"  remarked  Mr. 
Enfield,  "meant  to  obviate  bickerings,  I  pre- 
sume." 

"Will  you  enter?" 

He  replied  by  stooping  to  the  very  low  doorway, 
which  was  about  three  feet  high  and  twenty  inches 
wide.  But  he  had  not  so  far  to  stoop  as  Mr. 
Owen,  who  towered  almost  to  the  whole  altitude 
of  the  hut  itself.  At  its  loftiest  point  the  roof  was 
about  six  and  a  half  feet  from  the  ground,  and 
sprang  from  a  wattled  wall  only  four  feet  high. 
Layers  of  long  grass  bristled  from  it  on  all  sides, 
matted  into  the  interstices  of  the  boughs,  which 
were  the  circular  framework  of  the  whole. 

The  Englishmen  saw  nothing  whatever  for  a 
minute  or  two  after  entrance.  Mr.  Enfield  nearly 
ran  his  head  against  a  blackened  post,  which  con- 
stituted one  of  the  upright  supports  of  the  roof, 
and  had  the  prudence  after  that  narrow  escape  to 
stand  still  until  his  vision  returned.  The  transi- 
tion from  the  blaze  of  an  African  midsummer  noon- 
tide to  the  darkness  of  a  close,  windowless  interior 
almost  painful. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  89 

"  Well,  mother/'  said  Mr.  Owen,  who  first  re- 
covered sight,  "we  hope  you  are  better  to-day." 

While  preliminary  words  passed,  the  other  gen- 
tleman was  looking  about  him  and  making  out 
objects.  Three  posts  loomed  forth  gradually,  in 
virtue  of  their  own  sooty  blackness,  distinct.  The 
fire  in  the  centre — very  low  now  and  giving  off  a 
scarcely  perceptible  smoke — had  painted  them  as 
shining  as  if  japanned,  for  there  was  no  chimney. 
At  one  side  of  the  circular  chamber,  which  was 
perhaps  fifteen  feet  in  diameter,  lay  a  milk-sack 
full  of  the  thickening  fluid  and  some  grass  baskets 
for  holding  the  same.  In  a  minute  or  two  the  old 
woman  had  hobbled  over  to  these  from  the  mat 
where  she  had  been  lying,  and,  pouring  some  of  the 
sour  milk  into  two  of  the  baskets,  presented  them 
to  her  visitors.  It  was  a  testimony  of  the  kindliest 
hospitality,  and  could  not  be  refused. 

"  And  what  will  '  the  master  of  the  milk-sack' 
say  for  its  mouth  being  opened?"  asked  Mr.  Owen, 
with  a  smile.  For  it  is  the  man  of  the  house's  pre- 
rogative to  manage  the  provision  department,  to 
make  additions  to  the  stock  and  tell  when  it  is 
sour  enough  for  use. 

"  He  will  say  nothing,  but  be  glad  it  was  for  the 
missionary,"  she  answered,  glal  cing  toward  his 


90  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

shield  and  assagais,  which  hung  up  over  his  sleep- 
ing mat  at  the  other  side.  "  Nay,  he  will  be  glad ; 
he  would  give  it  all  to  you." 

"  Mother,  has  your  soul  been  bright  to-day  ?  on 
this  reputed  day  of  the  birth  of  our  Lord  Jesus  ?" 

"  Yes,  yes,  my  heart  is  sweet ;  I  am  glad  to 
think  concerning  him  ;  all  day  long  have  I  been 
meditating  about  him,"  she  said,  eagerly,  and  with 
a  visible  brightening  of  the  poor  old  black  face. 

"And  why  do  you  think  about  him  with  such 
pleasure?"  asked  the  missionary. 

"  Because  he  loved  me — loved  me  and  died  for 
me,"  she  answered,  with  some  surprise.  "How 
could  I  help  loving  Jesus  ?  You  know  he  is  my 
Saviour,  massa." 

There  was  a  great  reality  here.  A  very  intense 
feeling  throbbed  in  the  old  worn  heart  and  lighted 
up  the  deorepid  face  into  moral  beauty.  Mr.  En- 
field  could  not  have  a  doubt  of  the  truth  of  this 
profession.  Poor  Caffre  woman  !  she  had  grasped 
the  great  central  fact  of  man's  universe — Christ's 
substitution  for  the  sinner,  and  applied  it  to  her 
own  self  with  a  simple  faith  to  which  the  wise  and 
learned  cannot  always  attain. 

She  seemed  not  to  have  a  doubt  or  a  fear,  but 
like  a  child  to  cling  to  the  hand  of  her  unseen 


THE  FOLNTAIN  KLOOF.  91 

Lord.  "  And  why  do  you  want  to  be  baptized  ?" 
asked  Mr.  Owen. 

"  Because  Jesus  told  me  to  be  baptized.  I  want 
to  show  all  the  tribe  that  I  belong  to  Jesus,"  she 
answered  readily.  "  He  went  down  into  the  river 
and  was  baptized.  I  want  to  do  what  he  did. 
Read  me  some  of  his  words,  massa ;  tell  me  about 
him.  My  heart  is  white  as  milk  when  I  remember 
him." 

Mr.  Owen  translated  a  few  verses  for  her  as  well 
as  he  could,  uttering  them  in  a  clear,  loud  tone,  for 
she  was  deaf  among  her  other  infirmities.  Even  to 
tears  she  listened. 

"  And  I  did  not  know  this  in  my  youth,"  she 
cried.  "  Oh  that  I  had  heard  these  good  words  in 
my  youth !" 

The  looker-on  had  seen  Philip  Owen  in  English 
drawing-rooms  and  social  gatherings,  where  he  was 
admired  for  his  graceful  bearing  and  his  clever 
conversation,  and  the  contrast  struck  him.  Never- 
theless, he  could  not  say,  with  all  his  prejudices, 
that  he  had  ever  seen  his  friend  more  worthily 
occupied  in  those  brilliant  days  of  old,  when  feted 
and  caressed,  the  favourite  of  all  who  knew  him, 
than  now  when  bending  forward  in  the  uncertain 
light  to  catch  the  lines  of  his  Testament  and  re- 


92  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

peating  the  divine  words  to  the  aged  believer  in 
this  Caffre  kraal. 

"  I  have  seen,  but  I  don't  understand,"  he  said, 
when  they  left  the  hut.  "  I  cannot  account  for  her 
love  of  a  Being  concerning  whom  she  never  heard 
till  within  the  last  few  months,  and  who  must  be 
to  her  an  abstraction,  a  mere  history." 

"Shall  I  tell  you  why  you  don't  understand, 
Enfield  ?  Because  God  hath  made  foolish  the 
wisdom  of  this  world ;  because" — he  hesitated  an 
instant  before  he  added  the  startling  text — "the 
preaching  of  the  cross  is  to  them  that  perish  fool- 
ishness." 

There  was  a  dead  silence  of  some  minutes'  dura- 
tion. Mr.  Owen  raised  his  heart  in  prayer  to  his 
God  that  the  arrow  might  be  sped  home  in  his 
friend's  soul.  He  had  been  every  day  wishing  to 
press  the  subject  upon  him  personally,  for  he  did 
not  regard  his  commission  as  missionary  as  con- 
fining his  labours  to  the  heathen  only.  He  thought 
that  as  the  servant  of  Christ  it  was  his  duty  to 
seek  the  salvation  of  all  men,  specially  of  Xiis  own 
kin  by  either  blood  or  affection. 

But  the  opportunity  was  not  to  be  now.  What- 
ever feeling  had  stirred  in  Mr.  Enfield,  his  words 
when  he  spoke  referred  to  an  indifferent  matter. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  93 

"I  think  I  could  point  out  the  stranger's  hut 
among  all  those.  From  being  nobody's  business 
in  particular,  it  is  as  badly  managed  as  public  mat- 
ters generally  are." 

He  was  correct  in  his  selection,  and  laughed  about 
it,  but  the  hilarious  mood  did  not  last. 

And  when  going  to  his  wagon  at  the  close  of 
that  midsummer  Christmas  day,  Mr.  Owen  was 
surprised  by  a  strong  grasp  of  his  hand  and  the 
whispered  words,  "Philip,  pray  for  ine." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

SOWING    SEED. 

HE  doings  of  the  white  men  were  a  per- 
petual source  of  curiosity  in  the  kraal,  and 
wherever  practicable  their  movements  were 
attended  by  a  crowd  of  observers.  The 
building  of  the  chapel,  though  only  what  is  colo- 
nially  called  "a  wattle-and-daub"  erection,  was  as 
interesting  to  the  Caffres  as  any  public  exhibition 
of  mechanical  ability  could  be  to  us.  The  right 
angles  of  the  walls,  instead  of  their  own  immemo- 
rial beehive  roundness,  were  so  wonderful !  No 
chief  in  all  Caffraria  had  any  palace  so  extensive 
or  so  grand  as  this  house.  Likatlo  himself  fre- 
quently looked  on  with  exemplary  gravity,  squat- 
ted on  the  ground  amid  a  semi-circle  of  his  staring 
subjects,  who  seemed  never  weary  of  contemplating 
the  triumphs  of  hammer  and  nails. 

And  Mr.  Mason,  perched  on  the  wall-plate,  was 
as  often  preaching  to  them  as  hammering.  From 
the  most  trifling  incidents  he  drew  instruction  for 

94 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  95 

the  gazers,  either  in  secular  or  spiritual  matters. 
They  were  not  backward  in  questions  and  replies, 
for  Caffre  wits  are  acute  enough. 

"  But  why,"  asks  one,  often  the  spokesman,  who 
came  this  morning  with  what  he  imagined  to  be  an 
unanswerable  inquiry — "  Why  does  not  your  great 
white  man's  God  change  my  heart  at  once,  and 
make  me  be  good,  without  sending  a  teacher  to  tell 
me  all  that  is  in  your  Holy  Book  ?  If  he  changed 
my  heart,  he  is  powerful.  I  could  say  nothing." 

His  companion  Caffres  look  at  one  another  as  if 
they  thought,  "  Now  he  has  made  the  missionary 
dumb." 

"  That  is  not  God's  way  of  doing  things,"  an- 
swers Mr.  Mason.  "  Look  round  you :  does  the 
corn  come  down  from  heaven  in  rain  poured  from 
the  skies  ?  No  ;  yet  God  is  strong  enough  to  do  it 
if  he  pleased.  Do  the  rivers  run  milk  ?  No ;  yet 
God  could  as  easily  give  milk  as  water  in  the 
mountain  torrents.  Do  your  huts  grow  up  like 
the  trees  ?  No ;  your  women  have  to  cut  the 
boughs  and  twine  the  grass  in  them,  but  God  could 
have  made  every  bush  a  hut  if  he  chose.  And 
your  women  have  to  dig  the  ground,  and  plant  the 
seed,  and  drive  away  the  birds,  before  the  corn 
grows  up ;  then  they  must  reap  it  and  thresh  it  out 


96  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

with  sticks  before  they  get  the  grain.  God  could 
spare  all  this  trouble  if  he  chose,  but  he  wants 
people  to  have  work.  In  the  same  way,  though  he 
could  change  your  heart  in  a  moment,  he  chooses 
to  work  by  means.  I,  the  teacher,  am  like  the 
person  who  sows  the  seed  and  your  heart  is  the 
soil.  God  sends  his  rain  on  the  young  corn ;  so 
will  he  send  his  Spirit  down  on  your  heart  if  you 
only  let  the  seed  of  his  truth  be  planted.  Believe 
in  his  Word,  which  I  have  given  you,  then  you 
will  repent  of  your  sins  and  pray  to  God,  and  he 
will  save  you.  But  he  saves  nobody  against  his 
will." 

A  slight  murmur,  signifying  approbation,  ran 
through  the  ranks  of  the  listeners.  They  evidently 
•thought  the  answer  thoroughly  satisfactory.  The 
questioner  covered  his  mouth  with  his  hand,  as  if 
cogitating  what  to  say  further.  Mr.  Mason  went 
on  with  his  work. 

"  When  I  see  the  white  man's  God,  I  will  believe 
him,"  said  another.  "  They  point  to  the  sky  and 
tell  us  he  is  there ;  I  look  up  and  I  see  nothing ! 
Neither  in  the  noonday  nor  when  the  stars  are  up 
can  I  see  him  ;  therefore  I  will  wait." 

"Look!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Mason,  pointing  to  a 
tall  acacia  near,  whose  bright  green  crest  of  foliage 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  97 

was  agitated  by  an  early  breeze.  "  Do  you  see  the 
wind  ? — do  you  see  what  is  stirring  yonder  tree  ? 
No ;  nor  can  you  feel  it  here,  in  shelter.  Yet  that 
Caffre  would  be  counted  foolish  who  said  there  was 
no  wind." 

"But  we  see  what  it  does,"  observed  Likatlo, 
who  had  not  before  spoken.  "We  look  at  the 
leaves  moving,  and  we  know." 

"  I  was  going  over  the  Karroo  Plains  once,  and 
I  came  to  a  little  river ;  I  found  a  hut — two  huts — 
a  kraal.  But  there  was  nobody  in  them.  Not  a 
man  nor  a  woman  was  near.  I  did  not  think 
the  huts  grew.  How  would  you  think  they  came 
into  that  place  ?"  asked  the  missionary  of  the 
chief. 

"  Caffres  were  there  first,"  was  the  answer,  slowly 
given,  as  if  he  were  afraid  of  compromising  him- 
self, and  were  considering  the  consequences  of  the 
admission.  "  Caffres  built  the  kraal." 

"  What !  though  I  could  not  see  any  Caffres  ?" 

"  Yes ;  they  had  built  it."  Likatlo  spoke  more 
reluctantly ;  he  began  to  see  the  tendency  of  the 
Argument. 

"  And  I  look  up  and  down  about  this  world,  and 
I  see  the  trees  and  the  rivers,  the  mountains  and 
the  sky,  making  one  big  fine  house  for  men  to  live 


98  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

in,  and  do  not  all  these  things  tell  me  that  the 
great  God's  work  is  here?  Did  you  or  your 
fathers  make  that  bright  fire  in  the  heavens  which 
gives  us  light  and  heat  all  day?  or  the  moon  and 
stars  which  shine  through  the  dark?" 

All  were  silent. 

"  Therefore,  if  he  never  had  sent  a  holy  Book,  I 
should  know  that  he  is  in  heaven  and  that  he  is 
good  and  kind,"  added  the  missionary.  "  But  he 
touc-hes  my  heart  and  I  love  him.  I  know  him  by 
the  change  he  works  in  me  as  well  as  by  his  world 
outside." 

Mr.  Mason  paused.  It  was  so  hard  to  explain 
to  those  untutored  savages  the  meaning  of  a  regen- 
erated heart!  Indeed,  their  language  was  ill  fitted 
to  be  the  vehicle  of  such  explanation.  The  words 
that  could  be  used  in  speaking  of  spiritual  feeling 
were  very  few,  and  drawn  chiefly  from  metaphors 
connected  with  sensible  objects.  And  such  was  the 
foul  state  of  the  heathen  mind  that  ideas  of  purity 
and  holiness  had  not  only  lost  all  attraction,  but 
were  almost  incapable  of  being  understood.  The 
sensualism  of  the  people  had  infected  their  speech, 
and  polluted  what  might  seem  commonplace  words 
to  an  inexperienced  European.  It  required  thought 
and  judgment  on  the  preacher's  part  to  make  him- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  99 

self  clearly  understood  without  using  any  objec- 
tionable expression,  or  any  that  could  convey  an 
evil  idea. 

And  here  it  may  be  observed,  once  for  all,  that 
in  presence  of  the  social  abominations  of  heathenism 
this  missionary  had  more  than  once  found  occasion 
to  bless  his  God  for  many  chapters  in  the  Bible 
which  appear  superfluous  to  our  civilized  and  Chris- 
tianized society.  How  did  he  admire  the  divine 
wisdom  which  had  thus  adapted  Scripture  to  the 
most  degraded  of  men !  And  not  only  so,  but  to 
the  dullest  intellects  by  its  abundance  of  narrative 
and  strikingly  simple  story — its  vivid  colouring 
and  sharply-drawn  characters,  easily  apprehended 
and  remembered.  All  was  well  so  long  as  the  mis- 
sionary had  narrative  or  illustration,  but  when  he 
came  to  speak  of  abstract  spiritual  truth,  he  felt 
that  he  worked  on  sand.  So  he  said  no  more  of 
the  experimental  evidence  of  Christianity. 

"  I  find  it  a  most  effective  way  of  preaching  to 
have  my  ears  open  and  my  tongue  ready  while  I 
work,"  he  said  to  Mr.  Enfield  afterward.  "  The 
natives  crown  round  me  and  are  ripe  for  discussion, 
and  their  remarks  lay  open  the  state  of  their  minds, 
and  enable  me  to  suit  my  words  to  what  I  think 
will  tell  most  strongly.  In  fact,  it  was  to  draw  on 


100  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

such  conversation  mainly  that  I  went  to  work  at 
the  chapel  to-day." 

"  I  heard  Likatlo  ask  you  whether  you  did  not 
know  that  Makorno  and  his  tribe  would  destroy  it 
all." 

"Yes,  and  I  said  that  would  be  as  the  Lord 
pleased.  I  must  never  forget  that  from  my  conduct 
these  heathen  judge  of  my  faith,  Mr.  Enfield ;  and 
I  am  beginning  to  think  that  even  if  the  insurgents 
approach,  my  post  of  duty  is  to  remain  here,  trust- 
ing in  the  Lord  to  defend  me." 

"  I  have  a  very  great  mind  to  take  my  horse  and 
ride  to  that  chain  of  hills  yonder  to  see  what  I 
shall  see.  The  continued  absence  of  my  messen- 
gers is  puzzling;  I  know  them  to  be  perfectly 
trustworthy;  and  the  only  way  in  which  I  can  ac- 
count for  their  delay  is,  that  they  have  had  to  ride 
so  many  days' journey  to  get  near  the  enemy,  or 
perhaps  they  seek  any  trace  of  him  in  vain." 

"  I  hope  so,"  said  the  missionary.  "  It  would 
remove  a  great  weight  from  my  mind,  and  that  of 
my  dear  wife,  were  the  report  proved  groundless. 
I  have  been  trying  to  shift  off  the  care  of  the  un- 
known morrow,  remembering  who  it  is  that  careth 
for  us,  but  the  attempt  has  not  been  altogether 
successful." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  101 

"  It  would  be  supernatural  if  it  were/'  remarked 
Mr.  Enfield. 

"And  it  ought  to  be  supernatural,  dear  sir;  all 
grace  and  strength  from  God  are  above  nature." 

Presently,  Mr.  Enfield  had  formed  his  purpose 
and  went  to  look  for  Mr.  Owen  to  tell  him  of  it. 
At  school,  in  the  kraal,  was  Mr.  Owen  sitting  on  a 
mat  on  the  ground,  surrounded  by  a  number  of 
children  of  all  sizes  and  ages.  Some  of  the  out- 
siders were  playing  among  themselves  regardless 
of  the  teaching  going  on ;  one  set  had  got  some 
damp  clay,  from  which  they  were  moulding  imita- 
tions of  oxen,  about  as  good  as  the  paper  men  and 
women  cut  by  the  scissors  of  English  children. 
With  a  stick  on  a  layer  of  sand  before  him,  Mr. 
Owen  was  drawing  letters,  which  his  pupils  shouted 
out  rather  deafeningly  as  soon  as  made. 

"  This  for  want  of  primers/'  said  he,  looking  up 
with  a  smile.  "  I  am  training  readers,  in  anticipa- 
tion of  the  time  when  the  Caffres  shall  have  a  cheap 
and  easily-understood  Bible." 

"If  they  would  not  make  such  a  noise,"  said 
Mr.  Enfield,  "  I  dare  say  you  would  enjoy  your 
position  more." 

"  Oh,  that's  a  necessary  part  of  the  learning.  I 
wish  you  heard  the  adult  classes  that  Mason  and 


102  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

his  wife  teach.  They  think  that  the  louder  they 
shout  the  sooner  their  memories  will  retain  the 
lesson.  And  really  it's  a  pity  to  restrain  their 
ardour,  especially  because  it  will  probably  be  evan- 
escent, and  we  had  better  instruct  them  while  they 
are  inclined  to  learn." 

"  Well,  I  have  heard  of  ragged-schools — never 
before  have  I  seen  a  nude  school." 

He  stood  for  a  few  minutes  looking  at  the 
scholars  and  the  master,  who  was  now  patiently 
endeavouring  to  convey  to  them  the  meaning  of 
letters  united  into  syllables  or  small  words.  But 
this  was  by  no  means  so  pleasing  an  exercise  as  the 
using  of  their  lungs  with  reference  to  the  alphabet. 
Attention  visibly  flagged,  and  some  of  the  most 
ardent  sh  outers  withdrew  to  the  ranks  of  the  play- 
ers, until  the  teacher  quickened  all  parties  by  com- 
mencing to  tell  a  story.  When  they  had  learned 
to  "  make  the  paper  speak,"  they  should  read  such 
for  themselves.  It  was  of  Moses  in  the  cradle  of 
bulrushes,  and  excited  the  liveliest  attention.  Why 
did  not  the  crocodile  or  the  sea-cow  overset  the 
cradle  and  the  child  ?  Lions  might  come  down  to 
the  sedge  and  devour  him,  the  pupils  thought. 
But  then  the  eye  of  the  great  God  was  upon  him, 
watching  him  from  the  sky,  and  he  put  into  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  103 

heart  of  the  mighty  chief's  daughter  to  pity  the 
babe  and  save  him.  More  lessons  of  God's  care 
and  kindness  and  all-seeing  were  inculcated,  the 
natural  consequence  of  the  incidents  told.  Now 
was  the  alphabet  class  closed  till  next  morning, 
and  Mr.  Owen  rose-  up;  his  place  was  instantly 
taken  by  some  of  the  elder  boys,  who  began  eagerly 
to  trace  letters  in  the  sand  in  imitation,  shouting  at 
every  success. 

"  Those  are  hopeful  fellows,"  he  said,  when  Mr. 
Enfield  remarked  on  them. 

"  But,  I  say,  Owen,  is  it  not  a  waste  of  valuable 
material  ?" 

"What?" 

"  That  a  man  with  a  university  degree,  and  with 
such  a  distinguished  career  as  you  have  had, 
should  be  teaching  Caffre  children  their  letters?" 

"  No,"  he  answered.  "  I  have  been  led  here, 
and  my  duty  is  to  take  any  work  that  comes  to 
hand,  no  matter  how  humble.  There  is  no  one 
else  to  do  this,  Enfield ;  and  don't  you  recollect 
George  Herbert's  quaint  and  weighty  verse? — 

'  A  servant  with  this  clause 
Makes  drudgery  divine : 
Who  sweeps  a  room  as  for  Thy  laws, 
Makes  that  and  th'  action  fine.' 


104  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"And,  besides,"  he  added,  "if  we  judge  of  work 
by  its  results,  teaching  these  poor  children  to  read 
may  lead  to  their  salvation,  'for  the  entrance  of 
God's  word  giveth  light  and  understanding  to  the 
simple.'  Thus  these  morning  hours  of  mine  may 
be  sowing  seed  for  eternity."  Believe  me,  dear 
friend,  it  is  happiest  to  take  the  duty  which  lies 
nearest  to  one,  not  inquiring  whether  we  are  fit  for 
something  loftier,  but  knowing  that  if  we  are  faith- 
ful over  a  few  things  we  shall  be  made  rulers  over 
many  things  in  the  joy  of  our  Lord." 

"  You  have  a  happy  life,  after  all,  Owen." 

The  face  that  turned  upon  him  was  beaming. 

"  Happy,  I  mean  not  in  circumstances,  for  those 
I  deem  unworthy  of  you,  but  in  your  power  of 
concentration — in  your  enthusiasm,  if  you  will  per- 
mit me  to  use  the  word." 

"Well,  dear  friend,  whenever  Jesus  Christ  re- 
veals himself  to  you,  which  I  earnestly  pray  may 
be  a  time  not  far  distant,  you  will  then  know  how 
bright  and  noble,  beyond  imagination  happier,  is 
the  life  of  a  saved  soul." 

Never  had  Mr.  Enfield  thought  so  much  on 
religious  subjects  as  for  the  last  few  days.  He 
saw  before  his  eyes  an  acting  out  of  the  loftiest 
Christian  principle  in  every  occurrence;  he  saw 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  105 

lives  shaped  by  their  faith,  instead  of  the  faith 
being  a  mere  mental  supplement  to  the  convenient 
and  comfortable  life.  These  people  had  given  up 
something  for  their  religion ;  for  this  he  honoured 
them. 

"  If  everybody  who  professed  Christianity  lived 
as  you  do  here,  Owen,  the  world  would  be  changed 
long  ago,"  was  his  remark,  after  a  minute's  pause. 
"  I  fear  I  am  too  much  in  the  old  groove  to  get 
out  of  it.  But  here  comes  Gilbert  with  the  horses 
— au  revoir." 


CHAPTER  X. 

SPOOR. 

R.  ENFIELD  rode  a  long  way  from  the 
clusters  of  beehive  huts  without  speaking. 
Hintsa's  kraal  was  on  one  ridge  of  the  table- 
land— Likatlo's  kraal  on  another;  the  mis- 
sion houses  between,  a  worthy  focus  of  life.  A 
beaten  track  lay  among  these  habitations,  but  out- 
side them  was  a  roadless,  pathless  country,  like  the 
wild  parts  of  a  park  in  Britain.  Bush  was  scat- 
tered over  the  plain,  the  advanced  guard  thrown 
out  in  detached  pickets  of  the  great  jungle  which 
filled  hollows  of  the  hills  yonder.  Cattle  fed  about 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  kraals,  and  farther  away  were 
herded  by  Caffre  boys,  who  amused  themselves, 
after  the  manner  of  boyhood  in  all  climates,  run- 
ning, leaping,  wrestling  and  neglecting  their  busi- 
ness meanwhile,  as  playfully  and  as  perfectly  as 
any  European  children.  Likewise,  with  the  same 
love  of  staring  at  strange  matters,  squatting  mo- 
tionless when  the  ridors  passed  on  those  mysterious 

106 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  107 

horses — animals  as  wonderful  to  this  secluded  tribe 
as  the  zebra  and  quagga  are  to  us. 

Getting  among  rising  grounds,  the  station  was 
blocked  out  of  sight  for  the  present.  Down  shone 
the  cloudless  sun  in  monotonous  splendour  on  the 
richly-clothed  earth.  Not  the  slenderest  line  of 
vapour  marked  that  stainless,  pale  blue  overhead. 
One  tired  of  the  unwearying  blaze — one  thought 
with  affection  of  the  April  variety  of  English  skies. 

The  horses  gave  symptoms  of  fatigue  after  a 
couple  of  hours. 

"  Look  out  for  water,"  said  Mr.  Enfield  to  Gil- 
bert ;  "  we  must  saddle  off  till  the  great  heats  are 
past.  Cheer  up,  Mynheer,  old  fellow!"  And  at 
the  pat  on  the  neck,  that  sagacious  animal  pricked 
up  his  ears  and  shook  his  head  approvingly  at  the 
idea  of  speedy  drink. 

"  Perhaps  there's  some  about  those  reeds  yonder, 
sir,"  said  Gilbert,  who  had  for  a  little  time  back 
been  thinking  of  water  himself.  "If  not,  we  must 
only  look  out  for  a  shady  kloof." 

No,  nothing  but  hard-baked  mud  about  the 
reeds,  impossible  to  extract  fluid  from  or  even 
dampness  to  cool  the  horses'  hoofs.  They  turned 
their  heads  toward  the  nearest  cleft  in  the  hills, 
hoping  for  a  spring  among  the  rocks  and  trees.  A 


108  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

brake  of  tamarisks  stretched  forth  as  a  fringe  from 
the  heavier  woods,  unpromising  of  water,  for  sand 
is  their  pet  soil.  Gilbert  dismounted  and  pushed 
through  toward  the  densest  shade;  his  master  rode 
along  the  edge  of  the  cover  for  an  easier  opening. 

Presently,  a  whistle  from  Gilbert  announced  that 
he  had  found  what  they  sought.  And  Mynheer 
appeared  to  scent  the  welcome  water,  such  were  the 
expressive  motions  of  his  expressive  ears  and  nos- 
trils. Mr.  Enfield  let  him  find  his  own  way  to  the 
centre  of  attraction,  among  tamarisks  and  camel- 
thorn  and  turpentine  bushes,  till  the  thicket  was 
cleared  and  larger  trees  stood  wider  apart  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  forest. 

"  See  here,  sir !"  While  the  horses  splashed  and 
smeared  themselves  into  coolness  within  the  great 
reeds  in  the  shallow  pool,  Gilbert's  eye  was  sud- 
denly caught  by  a  dimly-defined  footprint  on  the 
muddy  margin.  A  wide,  heavy  mark,  as  of  a  cen- 
tral solid  cushion,  with  little  cushions  set  round  on 
half  the  outer  edge — exactly  such  a  print  as  strikes 
terror  into  the  barn-mouse,  when  he  puts  his  sharp 
nose  from  his  hole  in  hope  that  the  day  has  been 
too  damp  for  puss  to  venture  from  the  farmer's 
kitchen  fire. 

"  Lions !"    ejaculated    the    sportsman,    his    eye 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  109 

brightening;  "but  not  recent — I'm  afraid  not  re- 
cent, Gilbert."  He  turned  eagerly  to  the  bushes, 
looking  for  freshly-broken  twigs  as  signs  of  the 
animal's  passage.  "  Try  to  trace  the  spoor,  Gilbert. 
But  I  suspect  it's  some  days  old." 

"  Glad  of  it,  sir,"  observed  his  attendant,  bluntly, 
"  for  we've  only  a  few  charges  of  powder  apiece. 
The  spoor  is  quite  lost  among  the  elephant  grass 
off  here."  And  he  returned  from  his  momentary 
search.  Mr.  Enfield  did  not  leave  the  footprints 
so  lightly ;  he  stooped  over  the  clearest,  examined 
it  by  eye  and  touch,  to  discover  the  size  and  other 
particulars  of  the  lordly  beast  who  had  left  his 
mark. 

"And  you  know,  Gilbert,  that  this  lion  will 
probably  commit  no  end  of  ravages  on  the  herds 
of  the  station ;  it  really  seems  our  duty  to  hunt 
him  out  and  make  an  end  of  him,  now  we  have 
so  unexpectedly  come  on  his  track."  Mr.  Enfield 
looked  to  his  ammunition  as  he  spoke  and  found  it 
limited. 

"Here!  I  do  declare  that  I've  brought  bullets 
for  my  other  rifle,  and  they're  too  large  for  this. 
What  a  stupid  mistake !  Which  have  you,  Gil- 
bert?" 

But  neither  would   his   bullets   suit   the   bore. 


110  THE   FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

So,  with  some  grumbling,  Mr.  Enfield  was  con- 
strained to  permit  the  unconscious  lion  to  live  a 
little  longer,  and  Gilbert  to  saddle  the  horses  afresh. 

Even  he,  the  accomplished  lion-hunter,  received 
something  of  a  shock  a  few  minutes  subsequently. 
Choosing  a  new  way  through  the  cover,  and  rather 
forcing  Mynheer  to  a  course  he  manifestly  disap- 
proved, but  which  seemed  to  his  master  the  short- 
est, Mynheer  suddenly  gave  a  great  start  backward 
and  stood  still  under  the  tightened  curb,  trembling 
all  over.  Right  in  front,  and  only  a  few  yards 
away  under  a  bush,  lay  a  huge,  tawny  lion,  stretch- 
ing himself  and  blinking,  as  you  have  seen  your 
cat  do  when  suddenly  awakened. 

He  sat  up  on  his  haunches  when  he  saw  the 
man.  The  great,  reddish  eyes  were  trying  to  make 
out  this  novelty,  sleepily — blinking  in  the  sunlight, 
which  was  not  pleasant  to  the  long,  narrow  pupils. 
The  huge  jaws  opened  in  a  slumberous  yawn,  re- 
vealing a  cavern  of  hot  crimson,  with  jagged  spikes 
of  teeth  fencing  it.  Mr.  Enfield's  affrighted  horse 
was  backing  all  this  time,  his  mane  rigid  with 
terror,  but  it  was  needless  alarm.  Before  the  rifle 
could  be  brought  round,  Sir  Leo  rose  to  all-fours 
and  slouched  away  through  the  underwood,  slink- 
ing with  his  tail  in  a  depressed  curve,  and  looking 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  Ill 

furtively  back  to  see  that  nobody  was  following 
him.  Imprudent  as  it  would  have  been,  Mr.  En- 
field  could  not  resist  the  desire  to  send  a  shot  after 
him,  at  the  risk  of  bringing  him  back  wide  awake 
and  raging. 

"He's  off,  sir — he's  off!"  cried  Gilbert,  from 
without,  leaping  over  the  bushes  as  if  they  were 
chickweed.  "I'm  glad  'twas  in  day  and  not  in 
dark  we  met  him,  anyhow;  very  differently  he 
would  behave ;"  and  he  stimulated  the  beast's  flight 
by  a  shout  or  two. 

"Nearly  as  large  as  the  one  we  killed  on  the 
Zak  river,  the  black  one,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  in  ill- 
humour.  "Such  a  splendid  opportunity!  It  is 
really  too  bad ;"  and  his  grumblings  continued  for 
a  couple  of  miles,  according  to  the  prerogative  of 
Englishmen. 

The  next  "  saddling-off "  was  on  the  brow  of  a 
height  whence  the  distant  mission  settlement  was 
visible,  beyond  smaller  uplands. 

"  Isn't  it  like  a  bit  of  Europe  set  down  on  black 
Africa,  sir?"  asks  Gilbert,  while  they  rest  under 
the  edge  of  a  mimosa  grove  on  the  slope,  and  their 
horses  panted  and  browsed  in  the  shadow. 

"Ay,  you  must  have  enjoyed  staying  there," 
said  his  master,  as  if  the  idea  had  just  struck  him. 


112  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  I  suppose  you'll  be  for  turning  missionary  your- 
self next;"  to  which  he  received  the  unexpected 
response, 

"  Well,  sir,  I've  been  thinking  of  something 
like  it." 

"  How  ?"  Mr.  Enfield  turned  lazily  on  his  el- 
bow to  look  at  his  servant,  who  looked  straight 
out  before  him,  with  his  strong,  rough  hand  knotted 
together  over  his  knee. 

"  I've  been  thinking,  sir,  that  I'd  settle  myself 
at  some  station — suppose  here,  if  so  be  the  Caffres 
don't  come  and  sweep  away  the  whole  concern ; 
and  I'd  help  these  gentlemen,  who  aren't  so  handy 
with  tools  as  they  might  be,  in  their  buildings  and 
palings,  and  try  and  give  the  blacks  decent  notions 
of  houses,  too.  For,  you  see,  sir,  a  man  isn't  likely 
to  get  much  good  from  preaching  while  he  lives 
like  an  animal." 

"  Very  true."  But  Mr.  Enfield,  in  his  superior 
wisdom  and  nobler  aims  of  life,  was  internally 
amused  at  the  carpenter's  proposal.  "You  aspire 
to  be  a  sort  of  handicraft  missionary,  then  ?" 

"  I  don't  know  what  would  be  its  name,  sir," 
and  the  steady,  honest  eyes  looked  round  at  him 
for  a  moment;  "it's  only  a  thought  of  my  own, 
and  sure  maybe  'tis  a  foolish  one,  but  I  think  I 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  113 

could  do  some  good.  And  I'd  have  plenty  of  op- 
portunities of  saying  a  word  to  the  poor  misguided 
creatures  about  religion.  Ah,  sir,  I  tell  you  they're 
the  materials  of  a  fine  nation  if  they  were  taught 
and  civilized.  But  how  can  a  man  be  anything 
but  a  savage  who  never  sees  any  one  wearing 
clothes  and  lives  in  a  hut  that  he  creeps  into  on 
all-fours  like  the  burrow  of  a  beast  ?  And  it's  such 
a  fine  country,  sir,  able  to  grow  almost  anything ; 
but  they  don't  cultivate  it,  and  die  like  the  animals 
in  the  forest,  knowing  nothing  about  God  or  the 
future  world — nothing  at  all !" 

The  simple  earnestness  of  the  man  rather 
quenched  the  kindling  amusement  of  his  master. 

"  Has  Mr.  Owen  been  talking  to  you  ?"  he 
asked,  after  a  pause. 

"  He  came  to  the  watch-fire  last  night,  sir,  and 
spoke  to  me  about — about  my  own  soul,  sir ;  and  I 
hope  his  talking  did  me  good,- for  I  feel  happier 
since.  But  sure  it  seems  like  presumption  for  a 
poor  worm  of  my  sort  to  believe  that  I  am  saved," 
he  added,  in  a  lower  tone. 

Mr.  Enfield  turned  his  head  to  gaze  at  the  land- 
scape and  said  nothing. 

"  He's  a  real  good  gentleman,  sir." 

"Gilbert,"  asked  his  master,  "what  put  these 


114  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

notions  about  teaching  the  heathen  into  your  head 
first?  They  are  so  unlike  what  a  man  iu  your 
place  usually  feels." 

"  I  think  it  was  feeling  the  worth  of  my  own 
soul,  sir,"  said  the  carpenter,  humhly,  "  and  know- 
ing what  an  awful  thing  'twould  be  to  be  lost  for 
ever.  That  made  me  think  of  the  value  of  other 
people's  souls,  and  of  these  poor  blacks." 

"  You  may  put  on  the  saddles,"  said  the  gentle- 
man, after  some  minutes.  And  they  dipped  on  the 
other  side  of  the  low  hill  with  the  sun  gradually 
declining  behind  them.  Other  tablelands  opened 
out  in  long  succession  ;  wide,  uninhabited  tracts, 
where  Nature's  own  planting  and  growing  had 
long  gone  on  undisturbed  by  the  hoe  or  the  axe, 
and  Nature's  own  herds  of  deer,  gemsbok  or 
springbok,  roam  about  in  perpetuity,  possessors  of 
the  land. 

Rather  different  sort  of  work  from  riding  upon 
English  roads — through  scrub  and  sand  occasion- 
ally, over  flinty  tracts  and  then  acres  of  sward. 
But  the  hardy  Cape  horses  were  up  to  their  work 
and  would  probably  have  been  puzzled  by  a  smooth, 
thoroughfare. 

"Natural  ground  for  wars,"  reflected  the  fore- 
most of  the  riders ;  "  what  bloody  raids  to  depopu- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  115 

late  the  country  thus  !  Well,  certainly,  if  mission- 
aries prevailed  more  abundantly,  there  would  be 
less  of  that  wholesale  murdering.  But  these  plains 
ought  to  be  filled  with  white  farmers ;  such  plenty 
lying  dormant  here  and  the  purlieus  of  European 
cities  thronged  with  creatures  who  scarcely  know 
what  it  is  to  have  enough  to  eat !  There  would  be 
some  chance  for  civilizing  the  natives,  too,  if  inter- 
spersed with  white  population.  Gilbert !"  breaking 
off  suddenly  the  thread  of  his  ruminations,  "  I  see 
a  smoke  to  the  northeast.  Very  trivial,  indeed — 
hardly  visible — but  perhaps  it  is  worth  using  the 
glass  to  make  it  out ;"  and  he  unstrapped  his  tele- 
scope from  the  saddle. 

Gilbert  peered  in  the  direction  indicated  from 
under  his  broad  palm-leaf  hat.  The  slightest 
streak  of  vapour  ascended  slowly  near  where  the 
hills  parted  in  a  broad  entrance  to  more  distant 
plains.  Against  the  clearness  of  the  air  it  was 
visible,  and  the  source  might  as  well  be  on  the 
other  side  of  the  uplands  as  on  this,  for  all  that  the 
naked  eye  could  trace  in  the  blue  distance.  He 
withdrew  his  eyes  downward  to  the  sandy  patch 
over  which  they  were  travelling. 

"I  think  we've  come  upon  the  spoor  of  our 
oxen,  sir,"  he  was  remarking. 


116  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  Our  news  is  found,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  lower- 
ing his  telescope  after  a  steady  long  look.  "  Those 
are  the  watch-fires  of  the  Caffre  army.  Home 
now,  without  loss  of  time ;"  and  he  turned  Myn- 
heer's head  round. 

Gilbert  verified  the  fact  by  a  minute's  gaze. 
"  Why,  sir !  they've  horses  !" 

"  So  much  the  worse.  I  cannot  imagine  what 
has  become  of  Sackaboni  and  the  other :  I  hardly 
think  they  would  play  us  false :  they  must  have 
been  taken  prisoners." 

"  It  will  kill  the  horses  to  go  back  to-night,  sir." 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  CAFFRE    COUNCIL. 

? 

^ILBERT'S  misgivings  about  the  horses  were 
well  founded.  Willing  and  spirited  as  Myn- 
heer was,  and  though  muscle  can  draw  upon 
spirit  to  a  great  extent,  his  powers  had  a 
limit.  The  white  men  were  also  obliged  to  take 
rather  circuitous  ways  in  many  instances  to  avoid 
too  long  an  open  tract,  which  might  betray  them  to 
the  enemy's  sharp  vision. 

"It's  of  no  use,  old  fellow,"  said  his  master; 
"  there  can  be  no  saddling  off  now ;  more  precious 
lives  than  yours  are  at  stake ;"  and  the  poor  horse, 
under  the  cheery  voice  and  hand,  urged  his  strength 
to  the  utmost  for  a  while.  He  had  a  few  minutes' 
respite  on  the  last  height  whence  the  Caffre  watch- 
fire  could  be  seen,  where  Mr.  Enfield  dismounted 
and  looked  again  through  his  glass.  It  was  with 
satisfaction  he  found  that  in  all  probability  their 
course  had  not  been  noticed ;  but  very  different  were 
his  feelings  on  perceiving  how  vastly  the  numbers 

nr 


118  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

of  the  armed  insurgents  \ad  increased,  the  main 
mass  having  apparently  come  up  to  the  advanced 
files,  and  several  other  smokes  were  arising  about 
the  same  spot. 

"  They'll  spend  the  night  there,"  remarked  Gil- 
bert. "  What  a  flesh-eating  they  will  have  !" 

"  If  they  had  only  their  own  feet  or  their  pack- 
oxen  to  rely  on,  I  would  not  be  in  such  haste  to 
the  station,"  said  his  master.  "  But  they  have  got 
horsemen,  who  could  swoop  down  on  us  in  a  few 
hours  if  so  minded,  and  Mrs.  Mason  and  her  child 
must  escape  by  the  slow  means  of  my  wagon.  If 
that  fellow  Likatlo  could  be  relied  on  to  make 
some  defence — " 

"  No,  sir,  he  couldn't  be ;  isn't  he  of  the  same 
colour  with  these  chaps  that  are  coming  ?  Besides, 
the  ministers  wouldn't  like  it,  if  he  was  ever  so 
ready  to  fight  for  them." 

"  I've  been  thinking,"  observed  Mr.  Enfield,  as 
he  munched  a  biscuit,  their  sole  refreshment  for 
nine  hours  past  of  hard  riding — "I've  been  think- 
ing, James,  if  we  could  not  get  to  one  of  Likatlo's 
cattle-posts  by  striking  eastward  along  this  ridge, 
and  send  one  of  his  Caffres  thence  on  ox-back  to 
warn  the  settlement  ?  I  am  on  thorns  till  we  have 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  119 

the  lady  and  child  fairly  under  weigh  some  miles 
off  in  the  wagon." 

They  turned  the  matter  over  in  their  well-trav- 
elled minds,  but  finally  concluded  that  it  would  not 
do.  For  these  cattle-posts,  or  out-pasturages  be- 
longing to  the  kraals,  are  variable  as  quicksands, 
moving  from  place  to  place  according  as  the  grass 
is  eaten  down.  It  was  only  a  chance  their  striking 
on  one,  and  might  entail  considerable  loss  of  time. 
"So  here  goes  again,  poor  old  Mynheer." 

Opposite  the  glories  of  the  setting  sun  rose  the 
fair,  round  moon,  with  a  faded  edge  where  she  was 
beginning  to  melt  from  sight  into  decline. 

"  Pleasant  that  it's  one  of  the  safe  nights,  sir," 
said  Gilbert,  walking  beside  his  jaded  steed  over 
some  rough  ground  on  the  slope.  "  Our  friend  the 
lion  hates  moonshine  nearly  as  bad  as  daylight." 

"  "Tis  all  very  well  in  that  aspect,"  returned  his 
master,  "but  suppose  those  fellows  at  the  watch- 
fires  should  find  it  a  good  marching  night.  They 
would  be  on  the  settlement  in  the  morning." 

Poor  Mynheer  was  not  the  better  for  that  reflec- 
tion during  some  miles  farther.  And  whereas  he 
had  settled  in  his  equine  head  that  at  dark,  in  any 
case,  he  would  be  saddled  off  and  tethered  near  a 
protecting  fire  with  juicy  herbage  in  reach,  he  was 


120  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

sorely  surprised  to  find  that  night  drew  on,  and 
shadows  fell  abundant  over  the  earth,  and  the  trees 
changed  from  green  to  blackish  foliage,  and  plenty 
of  good  halting-places  were  passed  by.  Still  the 
exacting  knees  of  his  rider  pressed  Mynheer's  sad- 
dle, and  the  exacting  spur  touched  his  flank  occa- 
sionally, and  Mynheer  would  have  turned  rebellious 
through  sheer  weariness  of  strained  sinews,  except 
that  he  was  somewhat  nervous  after  the  fright  of 
noon,  and  really  knew  not  behind  what  bush  his 
tawny  foe  with  a  taste  for  horseflesh  might  lurk. 

Nevertheless,  he  was  compelled  to  subside  into  a 
weary  walk  at  last  beside  his  master,  and  started 
violently  when  his  master's  bugle  by  and  by  rang 
in  his  ears,  which  monition  was  not  intended  for 
him,  but  for  the  settlement  which  they  were  ap- 
proaching, and  for  Mr.  Enfield's  own  followers  in 
particular.  A  tremendous  barking  of  Caffre  curs 
ensued,  and  the  kraals  were  all  astir  presently. 

The  news  was  exciting.  Hither  and  thither  ran 
the  natives  with  brands  from  the  watchfires,  rous- 
ing those  sleepers  who  as  yet  kept  their  huts, 
screaming  out  that  Makomo  and  his  warriors  were 
near.  The  silent  place  was  in  a  few  minutes  echo 
ing  with  the  incessant  chattering  which  is  a  Caffre's 
delight;  several  new  fires  were  kindled,  and  a 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  121 

squatting  population  sat  round.  The  dogs  added 
to  the  uproar,  notwithstanding  the  numerous  kicks 
and  cuffs  they  received,  and  the  cattle  lowed  from 
their  folds,  perhaps  fearing  that  an  attack  by  lions 
was  in  contemplation,  and  wishing  to  prove  them- 
selves alive  to  the  danger.  Javelins  and  shields 
were  looked  out  and  exhibited  by  the  fires,  and 
war-cloaks  were  assumed. 

"  Will  Makomo  take  our  cattle  ?"  was  the  great 
question.  In  defence  of  these — their  tribal  wealth, 
their  maintenance,  their  all,  the  cattle  which  are  to 
Caffres  what  houses  and  lands  and  money  are  to  us — 
they  were  ready  to  fight.  But  Makomo  might  seek 
alliance  rather  than  war.  What  would  Likatlo  do  ? 

He  was  in  grave  conference  with  his  head  men 
in  the  public  meeting-place  opposite  the  entrance 
to  his  principal  cattle-fold.  They  sat  in  the  shape 
of  a  crescent,  with  the  chief  in  front.  The  moon, 
low  in  the  heavens,  flung  long  shadows  back  from 
the  bronzed  figures  and  gleamed  on  the  points  of 
their  rude  spears.  A  fire  of  fagots  burned  at  one 
extremity  of  the  crescent  council,  and  lit  up  with 
advantage  Likatlo's  beautiful  leopard-skin  kaross, 
trimmed  with  a  fringe  of  tails — his  robe  of  state, 
though  scanty  in  dimensions. 

When  all  were  assembled,  gravely  he  began  to 


122  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

sing  a  monotonous  Caffre  song,  accompanied  at 
intervals  by  the  rattling  of  his  spear  on  his  shield. 
Suddenly,  Likatlo  sprang  to  his  feet  as  if  warding 
off  a  blow ;  then  struck  at  an  unseen  enemy.  This 
sort  of  a  duel  with  an  invisible  antagonist  con- 
tinued for  a  few  minutes,  during  which  the  chant 
rose  to  a  violent  shouting  on  the  part  of  the  com- 
pany ;  and  when  the  chief  stood  still  in  a  trium- 
phant attitude,  as  with  his  foot  on  the  foe,  the  ap- 
plause of  spear  and  shield  was  backed  by  most 
energetic  lungs. 

As  soon  as  he  recovered  breath  and  silence  was 
restored,  Likatlo  addressed  his  warriors  in  a  sort 
of  blank  verse  recitative  : 

"  Evil  news  has  come  to  us,  my  brothers.  Ma- 
komo  and  his  tribe  are  marching  hither,  and  oui 
missionary  must  go  away.  You  know  what  this 
white  man  has  been  among  us — a  man  that  hated 
theft  and  spoke  the  truth  always.  He  also  is  a 
great  medicine  man,  who  can  cure  many  diseases 
without  witchcraft;  and  he  has  told  us  good  things 
about  the  great  God  who  lives  above  the  sky.'- 
Likatlo  raised  his  spear  toward  the  stars.  "He 
wanted  to  make  Caffres  as  wise  as  white  men,  and 
to  go  to  the  good  world  when  they  die.  And  now, 
shall  we  fight  for  him,  my  brothers?  Shall  we 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  123 

liurl  the  spear  at  Makomo's  warriors  ?  We  took 
none  of  Makomo's  cattle.  We  only  wanted  to  live 
in  peace :  here  we  have  corn-fields  and  pasturage ; 
here  I  hoped  to  die  and  be  buried ;  but  Makomo 
comes  with  guns  and  horses — " 

The  hum  of  applause,  a  low  buzz  of  voices  and 

slight  shaking  of  spears  which  had  greeted  every 

former  sentence  of  the  chief's,  was  suddenly  absent 

.from  this.     Contend  against  a  tribe  who  possessed 

the  weapons  of  the  white  man  ?     Impossible  ! 

"  Makomo  will  burn  the  mission-houses.  He 
will  lay  waste  the  corn-fields.  We  shall  be  his 
slaves.  He  hates  white  men.  No  more  will  our 
sick  children  be  cured  of  their  diseases  ;  no  more 
shall  we  hear  about  the  great  God  who  lives  above 
the  sky." 

Likatlo  sat  down,  and  with  a  lump  of  red  ochre 
and  some  grease  brought  him  by  one  of  his  wives, 
began  to  lay  on  the  war-paint.  There  was  a  pause. 
An  old  warrior  stood  up.  His  black  head  was 
getting  gray  and  his  movements  were  rather  stiff, 
but  scars  of  wounds  were  on  his  broad  breast. 

"I  remember  many  wars,"  he  began.  "I  re- 
member the  great  war  with  the  white  men,  when 
Makomo  was  driven  beyond  the  Kat  river.  He 
was  not  able  to  conquer  then,  or  to  keep  his  lands  ; 


124  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

and  will  lie  be  able  to  conquer  now?  No,  my 
brothers ;  the  white  man's  guns  will  be  louder  than 
Makomo's  guns,  their  horses  stronger  than  his 
horses.  Makomo  may  burn  the  mission-houses, 
but  others  will  be  built  hereafter.  What  does  the 
Bushman  when  the  sandstorm  of  the  desert  blows? 
He  lies  down  flat  on  the  ground,  and  it  passes  over 
him;  he  is  not  smothered.  Let  us  lie  down  like- 
wise, and  the  storm  will  do  us  no  harm.'' 

A  part  of  the  audience  applauded ;  Likatlo  re- 
mained ominously  silent.  But  the  chief's  disap- 
proval did  not  discompose  the  old  warrior  who  had 
spoken,  and  who  had  himself  borne  active  share  in 
the  wars  of  1834-35,  when  Likatlo  was  a  mere 
boy ;  and  he  knew  that  in  council  any  Caffre  may 
express  his  thoughts  without  fear,  while  the  chief 
is  merely  the  head  of  a  deliberative  assembly. 

A  dark  figure,  wrapped  in  a  cotton  kaross  large 
enough  to  cover  him  from  throat  to  knees,  had 
glided  behind  Likatlo  during  the  last  speech,  and 
sat  at  his  elbow.  Every  one  knew  him  to  be 
Hintsa,  uncle  to  the  chief  and  headman  of  the 
neighbouring  kraal,  and  knew  also  of  his  tenden- 
cies to  the  white  man's  religion.  He  was  more 
clothed  than  the  rest,  because  of  those  very  tenden- 
cies :  for  it  is  remarkable  that  one  of  the  earliest 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  125 

desires  of  the  converted  Caffre  is  to  procure  cloth- 
ing as  complete  as  a  European's.  Does  not  the 
reader  recall  the  demoniac  of  the  gospels,  whose 
"  right  mind"  was  signalized  by  his  sitting  clothed 
at  the  feet  of  his  Saviour  ? 

Hintsa  spoke : 

"  My  brothers,  our  missionaries  are  men  of  peace, 
and  not  of  war.  They  brought  us  good  news  of 
peace,  and  told  us  to  love  our  enemies,  because  God 
loved  us  who  were  his  enemies  and  hated  him. 
Our  missionaries  would  prefer  that  the  houses 
were  burnt  than  that  any  man  should  be  killed  in 
battle,  for  then  the  souls  of  men  go  to  God  to  be 
judged.  Our  missionaries  depart,  but  they  will 
return  when  Makomo's  war  is  done.  They  love 
us  too  much  to  leave  us  in  darkness.  And  I — " 
the  aged  Caffre's  voice  faltered.  "  My  heart  goes 
with  them  ;  Hintsa  will  not  cease  to  mourn  until 
he  sees  them  again,  and  hears  about  the  good  God 
again." 

He  covered  his  mouth  with  his  hand  folded  in 
his  cotton  coverlet.  After  a  pause  of  emotion  he 
glided  away  as  silently  as  he  had  come  upon  the 
council.  Passing  through  the  kraal,  he  directed 
his  steps  back  to  the  mission-houses.  Mr.  En- 
field's  wagon  was  drawn  up  in  front,  and  the 


126  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

oxen  partially  yoked  to  its  dissel-boom  or  shaft. 
Boxes  and  bundles  were  all  strewn  about,  and 
gradually  getting  stowed  away. 

"  Hintsa  spoke/'  said  the  old  man ;  "  Hintsa 
told  the  warriors  that  their  missionaries  would 
have  no  fighting,  but  that  they  will  return  when 
the  war  is  over.  And  Hiritsa's  heart  is  sore — 
very  sore !" 

<J  My  father,"  said  Mr.  Mason,  putting  his  hand 
on  his  arm  and  leading  him  a  few  paces  away  (and 
truly  the  missionary  might  be  even  the  grandson 
of  his  convert),  "  God  will  teach  you  himself,  now 
that  he  is  taking  away  your  teachers.  My  heart  is 
also  sore,  Hintsa !  But  now  you  know  concern- 
ing Jesus  Christ,  and  if  you  pray  to  him  he  will 
forgive  all  your  sins,  and  help  you  to  live  in  a 
holy  manner,  and  you  ought  to  tell  others  about 
him.  Kama  and  his  mother  are  fellow-believers, 
and  you  should  pray  together." 

"Kama  is  here,"  said  a  voice  behind  them. 
The  young  man,  who  had  arrived  in  the  kraal  at 
sundown  from  his  cattle-post,  had  lingered  about 
the  houses,  helping  his  friends  in  every  way  that 
his  strength  was  available  since  the  alarm  was 
given.  He  had  followed  his  dear  minister  and 
Hintsa,  desiring  to  hear  all  the  last  words  that 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  127 

e-.-vald  be  spoken,  and  knowing  nothing  of  the  eti- 
quette of  private  conference. 

If  his  mother  could  travel,  he  had  declared  that 
he  would  follow  the  teachers  to  the  next  station, 
but  her  infirmities  rendered  this  impossible.  Now 
must  his  baptism  be  put  off  to  an  indefinite  period, 
and  the  public  confession  of  his  faith  in  Christ. 

"  Speak  to  one  another  often,"  enjoined  the  mis- 
sionary, "and  uphold  one  another's  trust  in  God 
and  in  Jesus.  Pray  together,  and  ask  the  Lord  to 
bless  you  and  to  keep  you  living  as  Christian  men 
should  live,  fearing  him  and  doing  always  what  is 
righteous  in  his  sight.  Remember  that  now  you 
are  left  as  a  witness  for  God  among  a  people  who 
know  him  not ;  and  he  will  be  looking  down  from 
heaven  to  see  how  you  live  and  whether  you  go 
on  serving  him,  and  he  will  send  his  Holy  Spirit 
to  help  you." 

"  Pray  now !  pray  now !"  said  Hintsa,  drawing 
his  kaross  about  his  face. 

And  the  missionary  did  so,  lifting  up  his  eyes  to 
the  Divine  Disposer  of  events,  who  had  so  mys- 
teriously permitted  this  separation  of  pastor  and 
flock.  Much  as  did  Paul  when  parting  with  the 
polished  Ephesians,  he  commended  these  children 
of  the  wilderness  to  God  and  to  the  word  of  his 


128  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

grace,  which  was  "  able  to  build  them  up  and  give 
them  inheritance  among  tlie  sanctified.'7  But  his 
heart  sank  to  think  of  the  disadvantages  under 
which  they  must  live :  no  preached  gospel,  no  open 
Bible,  for  neither  of  them  could  read ;  no  Chris- 
tian fellowship,  no  good  examples,  but  all  the  foul- 
ness of  heathenism  closing  them  in  like  a  wall  of 
dense  darkness.  His  heart  yearned  over  them ; 
the  seal  of  his  ministry  were  they  in  the  Lord,  and 
he  feared  their  fall. 

Foolish  pastor !  and  if  thy  heart  tenderly  dwells 
on  these  incipient  Christians,  how  much  more 
tenderly  doth  His  who  gave  his  precious  blood  for 
them !  And  hast  thou  forgotten  the  inspired 
words  ? — "  Behold  the  eye  of  the  Lord  is  on  them 
that  fear  him,  upon  them  that  hope  in  his  mercy, 
to  deliver  their  soul  from  death,  and  to  keep  them 
alive  in  famine"  Here  is  the  very  promise  thou 
needest;  why  then  ask  repiningly,  "With  whom 
shall  I  leave  these  few  sheep  here  in  the  wilder- 
ness ?" 

He  had  not  done  exhorting  and  praying  with 
them  when  Mr.  Owen  came  up  quickly. 

"  Enfield  wants  us  to  start,  but  I  cannot  go  until 
I  have  spoken  to  these  people  once  again.  Our 
}ast  words  may,  with  God's  blessing,  leave  more 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  129 

permanent  impression  than  any  before.  Come  to 
the  council  with  me.  Eeflect  that  it  is  perhaps 
the  very  last  time  they  may  hear  the  message  of 
salvation." 

Mr.  Mason  did  not  require  much  persuasion. 
Saying  a  word  to  his  wife,  who  was  already  seated 
in  the  wagon  with  her  babe,  he  followed  Mr. 
Owen's  long  strides  to  the  public  meeting-place 
of  Likatlo's  kraal,  whence  the  red  eye  of  the  fire 
burned  like  a  beacon  still.  The  loud  report  of 
Jan  the  Hottentot's  whip,  as  he  set  the  sixteen 
oxen  in  motion  with  a  flip  on  the  ear  of  the  off- 
leader  (and  long  as  Mr.  Enfield  had  been  looking 
at  this  marvellous  management  of  the  thirty  feet 
lash,  it  surprised  him  even  now)  resounded  over  the 
whole  settlement.  It  was  the  knell  of  so  many 
hopes.  The  missionary's  wife  could  not  avoid 
weeping.  The  home  which  her  husband  had  es- 
tablished as  a  centre  of  light  in  this  dark  region 
was  left  to  destroyers  as  ruthless  as  the  wild  beasts 
— destroyers  who  found  a  country  like  Eden  before 
them,  and,  even  as  the  locusts,  left  behind  them  a 
desolate  wilderness;  for  the  exploits  of  Makomo 
during  the  war  of  1834-35  were  remembered  in 
frontier  families  with  horror :  only  eleven  years 
had  elapsed  since  he  ravaged  and  burned  down 


130  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

hundreds  of  emigrant  homesteads.  Then  the  peo- 
ple— the  people!  None  could  tell  when  Ihe  word* 
of  life  should  again  be  spoken  to  them. 

"My  dear  Mrs.  Mason,"  put  in  Mr.  Eufield, 
noticing  her  distress,  "  we  shall  soon  be  out  of 
reach  of  the  insurgents,  I  trust.  Don't  be  so 
alarmed ;  see,  your  tears  are  frightening  the  little 
fellow,"  who  in  sooth  had  set  both  his  chubby 
hands  against  her  and  was  staring  at  the  unwonted 
emotion. 

She  drew  him  close :  "  My  child,  it  is  wrong  to 
repine  while  you  and  your  father  are  left.  But, 
sir,  if  you  knew  what  it  is  to  have  the  cherished 
aims  and  hopes  of  years  frustrated,  and  hopes  that 
seemed  to  be  rooted  in  a  desire  for  God's  glory ! 
And  those  poor  Caffres !  I  thought  the  old  wo- 
man's heart  would  break  :  we  have  been  sowing 
seed  to  be  rooted  up  by  the  enemy.  But  it  is  all 
the  will  of  God — the  will  of  God;"  and  her  heart 
settled  itself  into  the  quiescence  of  prayer,  even  as 
the  trustful  baby  fell  asleep  in  her  arms. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE    SILVER    OF    THE    CLOUD. 

I  AWN-  was  tolerably  advanced  when  the 
missionaries  reached  the  council-ground. 
The  deliberations  of  the  Caffre  braves  were 
not  yet  over,  for  talkativeness  is  a  national 
failing.  Warrior  after  warrior  had  sprung  into  the 
semi-circle,  chanted  his  war-song  and  rattled  his 
assagais,  and  performed  his  pantomime  of  fighting, 
and  recited  his  parabolic  opinions  without  much 
effect  toward  deciding  the  matter  in  hand — viz., 
how  they  should  receive  Makomo.  And  Likatlo 
had  been  laying  on  his  war-paint  with  such  effect 
that  he  presented  a  truly  remarkable  figure,  em- 
broidered with  white  pipe-clay  over  the  back- 
ground of  usual  red  ochre.  However,  as  Mr. 
Mason  reflected,  this  belligerent  manifestation 
might  tell  either  way — against  the  white  man 
as  well  as  for  him ;  Likatlo  was  prudently  pre- 
paring for  either  emergency. 

According  to  etiquette,  the  Europeans  sat  down 

131 


132  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

on  the  ground  until  the  speaker  had  done.  Then 
Mr.  Mason  whispered  to  Likatlo. 

"  My  brothers,"  said  the  chief,  "  our  white  men 
want  to  speak  to  us  their  good  words  for  the  last 
time  before  they  go  away ;  shall  we  listen  ?" 

A  rattling  of  spears  on  the  stiff  leathern  bucklers 
was  assent.  All  the  gleaming  eyes  in  the  crescent 
of  bronze  faces  were  fixed  on  Mr.  Mason  as  he 
began ;  Philip  Owen  gave  place  to  him  as  the 
most  fluent  speaker  in  their  tongue : 

"  My  friends,  we  are  obliged  to  go  away.  Our 
hearts  are  very  sorry,  and  we  shall  pray  to  the 
great  God  to  send  us  back  again,  that  we  may 
teach  you  more;  for  we  want  Caffres  to  be  as 
cle§er  as  white  men — able  to  build  tall  houses  and 
to  dig  up  the  ground  fast,  and  to  make  it  grow 
plenty  of  corn  and  other  things  good  to  eat.  We 
want  you  to  have  no  more  fightings  among  your 
tribes,  but  to  live  in  peace,  enjoying  this  beautiful 
world,  and  preparing  to  go  to  the  glorious  land 
above  the  sky  when  you  die." 

His  listeners  had  a  sufficiently  lively  sense  of 
the  former  advantages,  but  things  tangible  and 
visible  had  the  same  power  over  these  Caffres  that 
they  have  among  the  best-taught  English  con- 
gregations. Attention  waned  when  he  earnestly 


.       THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  133 

pressed  the  message  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
on  them.  As  he  had  often  reflected,  men  must 
see  themselves  on  the  verge  of  eternal  ruin  before 
they  will  hail  the  deliverance. 

So  he  diverged  from  that,  and  entered  a  last  pro- 
test against  their  national  sins.  God  noted  all 
those  sins,  and  remembered  them  without  fail. 
All  liars,  all  thieves  must  have  their  place  in  the 
burning  fire.  Let  no  Catfre  imagine  that  he  can 
die  and  be  done  with  God.  Nay,  it  was  after  death 
that  he  went  right  into  his  presence  and  had  to  give 
an  account  of  all  his  conduct  while  in  this  world. 

Mr.  Mason  had  found  that  nothing  impressed 
the  native  mind  so  much  as  the  fact  of  the  judg- 
ment. There  was  something  peculiarly  trenren- 
dous  to  them  in  the  thought  that  a  man's  sins  met 
him  again,  so  to  speak ;  that  if  a  Caffre  stole  a 
beast,  though  the  owner  should  be  unaware  of  the 
culprit,  yet  the  theft  woufd  not  go  unpunished.  It 
was  just  a  following  of  St.  Paul's  plan,  using  the 
law  as  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  hearts  to  Christ ; 
impressing  the  holiness  of  God  upon  the  sinner's 
mind,  that  every  mouth  may  be  stopped,  and  every 
soul  brought  in  guilty  before  him.  Not  until  then 
will  the  sinner  see  the  value  of  the  Saviour,  or 
know  what  salvation  means. 


134  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"•  Perhaps  I  shall  never  sec  you  again,"  said  the 
missionary,  "  until  we  are  all  before  God  at  his 
great  judgment-council.  Then  I  will  see  you,  and 
these  words  will  condemn  you  if  you  do  not  turn 
from  your  sins.  My  friends,  farewell !  I  could 
weep  bitter  tears  at  leaving  you.  My  heart  will 
think  of  you  far  away.  I  will  come  back  to  you 
if  I  can ;  I  will  pray  to  God  for  you." 

Mr.  Owen  added  a  few  words  in  his  imperfect 
speech.  Poor  old  Hintsa,  dropping  tears,  kissed 
the  hands  he  held.  "I  will  never  forget,"  he  said; 
"  I  will  never  cease  to  love  you."  Quite  silent  sat 
the  range  of  warriors  :  a  Caffre  has  no  idea  of  leave- 
taking;  it  is  a  ceremony  left  out  of  his  life.  At 
all  times  and  seasons  he  will  depart  on  the  longest 
journey  without  a  word  to  any  one  about  it,  and 
come  back  as  apathetically. 

"  The  white  man  wept,"  said  Likatlo :  "  he  is 
our  friend ;  we  feel  our  hearts  sore." 

Nevertheless,  as  the  missionaries  passed  their  de- 
serted houses,  they  beheld  them  swarming  with 
dusky  natives  within  and  without,  plucking  the 
nails  out  of  the  woodwork,  the  hinges  and  bolts 
from  the  doors,  rending  the  fixture  furniture  into 
component  elements  for  the  sake  of  individual 
gain. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  135 

"  There  will  not  be  very  much  ruin  left  for  Ma- 
korno's  warriors  to  accomplish,"  said  Mr.  Owen. 
"  See  them,  the  poor  savages  !  The  houses  will  be 
pulled  to  pieces  before  noon." 

It  was  a  sharp  pang  to  Mr.  Mason's  heart, 
although,  from  his  knowledge  of  the  native  cha- 
racter, he  need  have  expected  nothing  else.  Hintsa 
and  Kama,  walking  behind  their  dear  pastors,  looked 
ashamed  of  their  countrymen.  The  former  went  to 
remonstrate,  but  already  was  his  authority  in  the 
balance  on  account  of  his  tendency  to  the  white 
man's  religion ;  and  at  this  time  of  insubordina- 
tion, with  the  enemies  of  the  white  man  drawing 
near,  he  was  not  likely  to  be  attended  to.  These 
Caffres  might  as  well  have  the  iron  and  wood  as 
Makomo's  was  all  the  answer  vouchsafed  by  the 
marauders,  and  they  wrent  on  with  the  spoliation. 
Mr.  Mason  would  not  glance  thither  again. 

The  missionary  walked  quickly  in  the  spoor  of 
the  wagon  away  from  the  kraals.  Mr.  Owen, 
struck  with  some  change  in  the  echo  of  following 
footsteps,  looked  back  and  perceived  the  aged 
Hintsa,  unable  to  keep  up  with  their  pace,  as  did 
the  younger  convert  Kama,  sitting  on  the  ground 
with  his  face  buried  in  his  cotton  coverlet.  Philip 
stepped  back 


136  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  My  friend,"  he  said  to  the  crouching  old  man, 
"  do  not  weep :  Jesus  Christ  is  with  you  still ; 
though  your  teachers  depart  he  will  never  leave 
you.  He  is  nearer  you  than  the  sky;  he  stands 
beside  you ;  he  walks  with  you,  if  you  love  him." 

Hintsa  looked  up  and  smiled  through  his  tears. 

"  Perhaps  I  may  see  you  next  in  heaven,  my 
father,"  added  Mr.  Owen;  "your  years  can  be  but 
few  now ;  believe  that  Jesus  has  forgiven  your  sins 
and  you  need  not  be  afraid  to  die." 

"  I  do  believe,"  said  the  old  convert ;  "  he  whis- 
pers it  to  the  ear  of  my  heart ;  I  will  not  be  afraid 
to  die  and  go  to  him." 

"  Then  may  '  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  love  of  God,  and  the  fellowship  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  be  with  you'  for  ever,"  said  the  mis- 
sionary, inexpressibly  soothed  by  his  confession  of 
faith.  "  Farewell,  dear  brother,  until  heaven !"  he 
added  in  English.  "  Thou  knowest  not  that  angels 
are  glad  to  hear  those  words  of  trust ;  that  there  is 
joy  for  thee  in  the  presence  of  God." 

"  Here  is  the  consolation  which  our  God  has  sent 
us,"  he  said,  reaching  Mr.  Mason's  side  again,  and 
he  told  of  Hintsa's  words.  "  Surely  the  trial  is  a 
light  one  and  the  recompense  a  weight  of  joy." 

For  these  men  were  sufficiently  in  tune  with  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  137 

satisfactions  and  the  spirit  of  heaven  to  rejoice  most 
in  what  gave  their  Lord  joy — the  saving  of  souls. 
Other  things  seemed  what  they  really  are — small, 
bounded,  trifling — but  the  stupendous  matter  of  a 
soul's  safety  for  ever,  that  one  event  of  human  life 
which  reaches  forth  in  the  grandest  consequences 
across  ages  beyond  our  numbering,  yet  which  enters 
not  into  the  world's  calculations,  and  to  achieve 
which  the  great  agencies  of  society  have  no  intent 
and  no  desire — this  was  the  all-important  matter 
with  these  exceptional  Englishmen,  these  obscure 
missionaries.  Mr.  Enfield  could  scarce  believe  his 
generally  truthful  ears  when  he  heard  them  coming 
along  behind,  overtaking  the  wagon,  and  singing 
all  the  way: 

"  We  praise  thee,  O  God !  we   acknowledge  thee  to  be  the 

Lord! 
All  the  earth  doth  worship  thee,  the  Father  everlasting  I" 

And  it  was  from  no  desire  merely  to  appear 
light-hearted ;  it  was  from  the  well-spring  of  thank- 
ful, trusting  hearts  this  hymn  of  praise  gushed 
forth — thankful  that  he  had  given  them  from  his 
own  fulness  that  joy  with  which  a  stranger  inter- 
meddles not;  trustful,  as  knowing  that  he  doeth 
all  things  well. 


138  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  Why  !"  exclaimed  Mr.  Enfield,  when  the  chant 
stopped  as  they  canie  up  with  the  advanced  guard, 
"  I  am  glad  to  hear  you  in  such  good  spirits.  I 
feared  you  would  be  downcast.  Mrs.  Mason,  there's 
an  example  of  fortitude  for  you,"  he  added,  looking 
into  the  wagon. 

"No  outspanning  to-day,  Gilbert,"  he  directed 
by  and  by.  "  No  matter  how  hot  the  sun  or  how 
thirsty  the  oxen,  they  must  go  ou  till  nightfall. 
We  are  by  no  means  safe  from  those  black  fellows ; 
I  expect  to  see  their  scouts  top  the  ridges  behind 
every  moment!" 

And  he  kept  his  telescope  sweeping  the  line 
pretty  often.  His  disquiet  was  quite  a  striking 
contrast  to  the  composure  of  his  charge,  the  com- 
paratively helpless  missionary  party.  They  had 
just  lost  their  home  and  considerable  possessions 
in  the  way  of  irremovable  furniture  and  growing 
crops,  yet  the  line  of  anxiety  that  seamed  Mr.  En- 
field's  brow  all  day  was  absent  from  any  of  theirs. 
He  had  lost  nothing  save  a  few  slices  of  a  com- 
modity nearly  valueless  to  him — his  time. 

And  so  they  went  on,  through  the  usual  burning 
African  noontide,  for  every  summer  day  is  a  repe- 
tition each  of  the  other  in  those  inland  wilds. 
Nearing  the  hills  at  nightfall,  another  terrace  of 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  139 

the  great  tablelands  which  line  Caffraria  like 
mighty  stair?,  Mr.  Enfield  despatched  his  natives 
to  search  for  a  dark  kloof  in  which  to  bivouac. 
They  durst  not  light  a  fire,  unless  in  some  spot 
thoroughly  sequestered  from  observation  of  the 
plains  they  had  left.  Risk  of  lions  and  leopards 
must  be  run  for  avoidance  of  the  greater  risk. 
They  found  such  a  spot  at  last.  The  weary  oxen 
were  unyoked,  but  tethered  to  the  trees  hard  by, 
lest  they  should  wander  too  far  or  get  devoured. 
Had  the  place  been  more  open  to  the  flooding 
moonlight,  this  need  not  have  been  done.  But  who 
knew  what  lurked  ten  paces  away,  behind  that 
brushwood?  The  biggest  lion  might  there  be 
watching  with  his  tawny  eyes,  and  making  no 
more  noise  of  stealthy  motion  than  his  domestic 
type  on  our  hearth-rug  eyeing  the  canary. 

All  parties  were  glad  when  two  or  three  crack- 
ling fires  sprang  up,  darting  arrows  of  red  light 
far  into  the  gloom  of  the  woods.  Mr.  Enfield 
loosened  his  knife  in  its  sheath,  as  he  walked  back 
some  distance  on  the  way  they  had  come  to  observe 
whether  the  glare  was  noticeable  by  a  possible 
enemy  on  the  tableland  outside.  Some  movement 
in  the  bushes  attracted  his  attention,  and  caused 
him  to  lay  his  hand  quickly  on  the  aforesaid  knife ; 


140  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

it  was  just  the  place  for  "tigers,"  couchant  in  the 
long  grass.  A  dusky  figure  glided  from  the  under- 
wood and  stood  relieved  against  the  dull  reflection? 
of  the  hidden  fires.  Mr.  Enfield's  seasoned  heart 
gave  one  great  thump  against  his  ribs — had  the 
enemy  tracked  them,  stolen  upon  them  ?  He  had 
not  an  instant  to  think  about  it ;  a  familiar  voice 
spoke : 

"  Massa,  I  am  Sackaboni !"     The  missing  mes- 
senger was  found. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

MIDNIGHT    WATCH. 

R.  EXFIELD  drew  a  breath  of  relief  and 
dropped  back  his  half-unsheathed  weafon. 

"  Sackaboni !  I  took  you  for  one  of  Ma- 
komo's  Caffres,"  he  said. 
"  Maser  !"  in  a  sort  of  alarmed  whisper,  "  they 
not  so  near  yet — they  coming."  More  in  number 
than  the  leaves  of  the  forest,  asserted  the  hyper- 
bolical Caffre,  and  fiercer  than  a  lioness  with 
cubs,  for  Makomo,  the  chief,  Gaika's  redoubtable 
son,  had  sworn,  with  his  hand  upon  his  hip  in  the 
most  solemn  form  of  Caffre  adjuration,  that  he 
would  destroy  every  mission-station  in  Caffraria — 
that  he  would  drive  every  white  man  into  the  blue 
water. 

"But  where  have  you  been  yourself,  all  these 
days?  Why  did  you  not  bring  this  news  sooner? 
You  should  have  got  the  wings  of  a  bird  and  the 
fleetness  of  an  ostrich  to  fly  to  your  master  with 
these  tidings,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  rather  troubled 

141 


142  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

by  the  intelligence,  even  though  accompanied  by 
the  assurance  that  the  enemy  was  not  so  near  as  he 
feared. 

"  Maser,  unless  I  had  indeed  wings,  I  could  not 
come."  He  and  the  Hottentot  Andries  had  been 
surprised  by  the  hostile  Caffres  as  they  rode  their 
oxen  unsuspiciously  through  a  dale  in  the  hills : 
Andries  had  been  carried  prisoner  to  Makomo's 
kraal,  while  the  lad  made  his  escape  on  the  pre- 
ceding moonlit  night. 

"How  was  that?"  asked  Mr.  Enfield.  "Do 
they  keep  such  bad  guard  ?" 

"  Oh,  maser,  they  kill  gemsbok  ;"  and  the  bright 
eyes  glittered  even  through  the  darkness  at  the  re- 
membrance of  the  feast,  wherein  he  had  doubtless 
borne  his  share.  "  They  kill  gerasbok — two,  three, 
eight,  five  gemsbok  :  they  great  flesh-eating  round 
fires.  Sackaboni  watch  all  asleep — steal  away  in 
bush — steal  away  like  tiger-cat ;"  he  meant  the  re- 
semblance of  noiselessness.  "  Me  steal  away  all 
night  through  bush  ;  me  cross  trail  maser  s  oxen." 

"  Were  you  not  afraid  of  lions  ?" 

"  Me  pray  to  white  man's  God,"  replied  the  lad, 
simply. 

"You  may  go,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  who  considered 
these  words  as  an  attempt  to  curry  favour  with  him. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  143 

Great  chattering  ensued  round  the  fires  when 
£ackaboni  suddenly  emerged  from  the  gloom. 
And  Mr.  Enfield,  who  had  quickly  followed  and 
stood  screened  by  a  mimosa,  where  he  could  see 
and  not  be  seen,  was  auditor  to  a  long  yarn  spun 
by  the  late  prisoner,  wherein  he  depicted  great 
bravery  on  his  own  part  and  deeds  of  prowess  by 
Andries,  winding  up  with  the  asseveration  that 
Andries  had  been  killed  in  the  struggle  with  Ma- 
komo's  Caffres. 

"  My  son  hath  done  well,  by  his  words,"  laconi- 
cally observed  an  old  Caifre,  who  was  toasting  a 
piece  of  meat  on  a  cleft  stick  while  he  squatted  be- 
fore the  fire.  "  Let  my  son  show  us  the  marks  of 
Makomo's  spears." 

An  indescribable  roll  of  the  eves  and  twist  of 
the  thick  lips,  expressive  at  once  of  incredulity  and 
mockery,  accompanied  this  speech.  "  Yes,  yes  !" 
clamoured  a  score  of  voices.  "  Sackaboni's  wounds ! 
The  marks  of  the  assagai  show  to  us !"  and  peals 
of  laughter  echoed  from  the  detection  of  the  deceit. 

"  The  young  varlet !"  reflected  his  master.  "  I 
suppose  he  is  ashamed  to  have  it  known  that  they 
were  surprised  in  the  defile,  lest  his  reputation  for 
sharpness  should  be  damaged.  He  pray  to  the 
white  man's  God,  indeed  !  a  pretty  convert  he 


144  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

would  be.  I  suppose  Mason  would  take  that  for 
genuine,  whereas  I  know  that  nearly  every  word 
out  of  a  Caffre's  lips  is  falsehood." 

He  failed  not  to  recite  this  new  instance  of 
trickery  to  the  missionaries  as  they  sat  about  their 
watchfire. 

"  I  am  not  surprised,"  said  Mr.  Mason,  calmly : 
"  I  have  it  all  in  the  Bible.  The  Divine  Spirit 
has  left  his  imprimatur  on  the  truth :  '  The  heart 
is  deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked : 
who  can  know  it  ?'  So  that  even  those  who  have 
most  closely  examined  into  its  evil  have  not 
fathomed  it :  you  could  not  think  worse  of  human 
nature  than  it  deserves,  Mr.  Enfield." 

"And  there  is  another  verse,  dear,"  said  the 
missionary's  wife;  "you  remember  what  David 
says :  *  As  soon  as  they  are  born  they  go  astray 
and  speak  lies.' " 

Involuntarily  she  glanced  at  her  own  sleeping 
babe,  in  whom  lay  the  germs  of  even  such  sins  as 
this.  What !  would  his  soft  crimson  lips  utter  the 
foulness  of  falsehood  ?  Was  the  little  heart  now 
beating  against  his  mother's  a  seed-ground,  with 
the  seeds  already  set,  of  deceit  and  ungodliness? 
She  breathed  a  prayer  for  her  unconscious  child, 
which  sounded  like  a  sigh. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  145 

"And  the  fellow  tells  me  just  before  that  he 
had  prayed  to  the  white  man's  God  to  save  him 
from  the  lions !  That's  some  of  your  teaching, 
Gilbert!" 

Gilbert  blushed  a  little,  stalwart  man  though  he 
was,  at  the  charge. 

"  It  took  a  good  many  years  to  teach  ourselves, 
sir,"  he  said,  apologetically,  as  he  poured  some 
spoonfuls  of  tea  into  a  tin  vessel  of  boiling  water 
on  the  fire;  "and  everything  has  a  beginning,  sir;" 
which  truisms  were  all  he  had  wherewith  to  defend 
himself. 

"  Telling  them  of  God's  existence  and  his  per- 
petual presence  is  that  beginning,"  observed  Mr. 
Owen,  looking  on  the  carpenter  with  a  friendly 
gleam  in  his  deep  eyes.  "  You  know  that  even  a 
cup  of  cold  water  is  rewarded,  Gilbert." 

"  Rome  was  not  built  in  a  day,  certainly,"  said 
Mr.  Enfield,  breaking  the  pause  that  followed. 
"  Yet  it  seems  to  me  that  any  attempt  to  render 
Caffres  or  Hottentots  as  moral  and  as  civilized  as 
Englishmen  is  hopeless  by  the  very  nature  of 
things.  You  have  nothing  to  work  upon.  The 
germs  of  the  commonest  morality  are  not  there." 

"  '  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  that 

dwell  on  the  earth/  "  quoted  Philip  Owen.     "  One 
10 


146  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

evil  afflicts  all  men,  and  for  it  God  has  provided 
one  remedy." 

"  Look  here  !"  said  Mr.  Enfield.  "  It  is  non- 
sense to  tell  me  that  there  is  as  much  chance,  by 
the  use  of  the  same  means,  of  the  conversion  of — 
say  James  Gilbert,  who  sits  there,  and  of  any  given 
Caffre.  You  have  the  groundwork  of  a  more  or 
less  Christian  rearing  in  the  one — a  life  spent  chiefly 
in  an  atmosphere  of  Christianizing  influences ;  and 
the  other  has  grown  up  to  man's  estate  in  a  society 
opposed  to  every  principle  which  we  consider 
sacred ;  he  is  steeped  to  the  lips  in  deceit,  fraud, 
foulness  of  every  kind.  Does  it  not  stand  to  rea- 
son that  the  total  reformation  of  life  required  by 
Christianity  must  be  far  easier  in — say  Gilbert 
(for  the  sake  of  example)  than  in  any  Caffre  ?" 

Mr.  Enfield  folded  his  arms  as  one  who  had 
uttered  something  unanswerable. 

"  There  is  much  truth  in  what  you  say,"  replied 
Mr.  Owen ;  "  but  you  have  left  out  of  account  that 
the  change  wrought  by  the  Spirit  of  God  is  alto- 
gether supernatural.  I  have  seen  a  great  machine 
at  work  in  some  dockyard  at  home,  boring  holes 
in  and  cutting  pieces  from  huge  iron  blocks ;  now 
if  cardboard  were  presented  to  it,  I  suppose  it 
would  cut  equally  well.  I  don't  think,"  added 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  147 

Mr.  Owen,  abandoning  his  simile,  "  that  the  hard- 
ness or  apparent  ease  of  the  work  makes  any  differ- 
ence to  a  Power  confessedly  omnipotent." 

"We  have  had  given  to  us,  in  the  events  of 
modern  times,  answers  to  all  such  objections," 
observed  Mr.  Mason.  "  Part  of  New  Zealand 
is  a  comparatively  regenerated  land.  Surely  the 
Caffres  are  not  more  hopelessly  savage  than  the 
tattooed  cannibals  who  have  been  chano-ed  there 

O 

into  a  partly-civilized  community  by  the  agency 
of  the  Bible?" 

""Well,  I  think  it  may  be  conceded  that  the 
Caffres  are  not  so  bad  as  the  Maories,"  said  Mr. 
Enfield.  "  If  accounts  be  not  exaggerated,  New 
Zealand  is  the  scene  of  almost  a  miracle.  But  for 
the  hopelessness  of  the  attempt  among  the  Caffres 
I  need  go  no  farther  than  your  own  efforts.  You 
were  for  a  year  toiling  at  Tabor  station,  and  the 
utmost  success  you  can  claim  is  the  conversion  of 
three  persons.  Permit  me  to  say  that  the  result 
seems  very  inadequate  to  the  expenditure  of  time 
and  toil." 

"Yes,  my  dear  sir,"  responded  the  minister,  "if 
it  were  possible  for  human  arithmetic  to  compute 
the  value  of  each  one  of  those  undying  souls." 

"  There  is  an  unknown  quantity  in  any  such  cal- 


148  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

culation,"  said  Philip  Owen,  with  a  smile.  "We 
have  yet  to  fix  the  value  of  eternity,  and  find  ex- 
pression fjr  it  in  the  language  of  mercantile  arith- 
metic." 

"  And  it  is  my  conviction,"  added  Mr.  Mason, 
"  that  if  my  life  were  spent  in  preaching  to  the 
heathen  with  only  a  single  soul  as  the  gain  of 
many  years'  labour,  that  reward  would  be  abso- 
lutely beyond  estimation." 

"  Our  Master  is  not  pleased  with  us  in  propor- 
tion to  our  success,  but  to  our  obedience,  dear," 
said  the  gentle  wife  in  a  low  voice  to  her  husband. 
Often  and  often  had  she  learned  the  meaning 
of  submission,  and  comforted  herself  with  this 
thought  during  the  struggles  and  the  baffled  la- 
bours of  her  African  life. 

"  I  must  say,"  were  Mr.  Enfield's  next  words  to 
the  missionary,  "  that  your  belief  and  your  prac- 
tice coincide.  As  for  the  generality  of  so-called 
Christians  at  home,  they  confess  a  practical  infi- 
delity while  they  neglect  the  heathen.  It  passes 
my  comprehension  how  a  man  can  thoroughly 
believe  that  the  whole  pagan  world  are  in  the 
darkness  and  peril  of  spiritual  death,  and  quietly 
sit  in  his  church  pew  every  Sunday  and  hug 
himself  in  his  own  safety.  It  is  barbarous.  I 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOt.  149 

can  only  account  for  on  the  supposition  of  a  looted 
disbelief." 

"  My  dear  Enfield,  don't  you  believe  it  ?"  asked 
liis  friend,  leaning  toward  him  as  they  sat  together. 

"  I  never  thought  on  the  subject/'  was  the  sole 
answer — as  it  would  be  from  many  a  hundred  of 
good  Christians — "  I  never  thought  on  the  subject 
till  very  recently." 

He  perhaps  gave  it  a  thought  among  other 
things  while  he  lay  awake  for  a  long  time  beside 
the  watch-fire,  gazing  into  its  scarlet  brands.  One 
side  of  the  ponderous  wagon  behind  him  was  red- 
dened, but  the  top  rose  into  the  dense  gloom  of 
the  forest,  whose  bending  boughs  hung  over. 
Ebony  blackness  closed  about  the  encampment. 
Sometimes  the  silence  was  broken  by  a  jackal's  cry 
in  the  distance,  or  by  the  movement  of  one  of  the 
oxen  clinking  the  chain  binding  him  to  his  fellows 
and  to  the  wagon.  This  fastening  is  always  done 
on  moonless  nights  or  in  the  black  depths  of  the 
woods  for  better  security  from  wild  beasts. 

Mr.  Enfield  was  singularly  wakeful.  Not  from 
pressure  of  anxiety,  for  his  mind  had  settled  com- 
fortably over  the  news  brought  by  Sackaboni,  that 
there  would  be  time  enough  for  retreat  in  perfect 
safety  ;  not  surely  from  the  civilized  cause  of  insuf- 


150  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

ficient  exercise,  for  he  had  been  riding  or  walking 
all  day  and  a  part  of  the  preceding  night ;  yet  sel- 
dom had  his  body  felt  less  fatigue  or  his  mind 
more  alertness,  and  some  spring  seemed  to  open  his 
eyelids.  He  mended  the  fire  more  than  once  with 
fresh  branches,  which  were  piled  within  reach — dry 
thorn-branches  from  the  prevailing  underwood, 
which  it  required  some  dexterity  not  to  be  wounded 
by  as  he  handled  them.  After  this  little  excite- 
ment, he  coiled  himself  up  and  determinately  shut 
his  eyes,  but  balmy  sleep  was  not  thus  to  be  in- 
vited, and  finally  he  gave  up  the  attempt  as  a  bad 

job- 
Opposite  to  the  spot  on  which  he  was  lying,  and 
on  the  other  side  of  the  fire,  was  a  thicket  of  the 
aforesaid  thorn-bushes  in  which  Caffrarian  jungle 
abounds.  Mr.  Enfield  had  no  particular  reason  for 
raising  his  eyes  to  glance  in  that  direction,  but  he 
did  so  accidentally,  and  was  startled  by  seeing  amid 
the  dark  shadows  the  face  of  a  Caffre  wearing  the 
Avar-paint ! 

It  was  looking  about  with  its  white-balled  eyes 
observing  the  sleeping  groups.  The  two  mission- 
aries were  lying  on  the  ground  near  Mr.  Enfield, 
Gilbert  was  stretched  at  his  feet — each  in  the 
soundes  slumber.  A  little  way  off  was  the  other 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  151 

fire,  with  the  squatting  figure  of  the  Caffre  who 
was  on  guard  sitting  upright,  but  none  the  less 
asleep,  as  his  master  well  knew.  The  mute  brown 
face  took  note  of  all  this.  As  its  regards  travelled 
toward  him,  Mr.  Enfield  closed  his  eyes.  He 
waited  a  few  minutes  to  think  what  he  should  do, 
and  knew  that  if  he  was  seen  to  be  awake  the  first 
notice  taken  of  the  fact  might  probably  be  the  dart- 
ing of  the  short  spear,  which  he  saw  gleaming  be- 
side the  war-paint,  to  pin  him  to  the  earth. 

Now  the  face  of  a  lion  preparing  to  spring  would 
have  been  in  some  sense  a  more  welcome  sight  to 
Mr.  Enfield.  He  would  have  known  accurately 
the  amount  of  danger  and  his  own  resources  to 
meet  it;  he  would  have  sprung  into  action  in  a 
minute.  But  how  many  dusky,  relentless  faces 
were  behind  this  one  ?  Motionless,  scarcely  daring 
to  breathe,  he  stealthily  opened  his  eyes  again, 
raised  them  to  the  dark  space  over  the  thorn-bushes 
and  saw — nothing  but  the  darkness. 

Nothing  else,  though  he  looked  for  some  minutes 
along  the  wall  of  forest.  And  he  heard  nothing, 
though  he  raised  himself  slightly  so  as  to  have  both 
ears  free  to  listen.  He  rubbed  his  eyes ;  he  could 
hardly  believe  in  the  vanishing  of  the  object  which 
had  caused  him  such  intense  uneasiness.  Not  a 


152  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

trace  of  it  in  sight  or  sound.  Could  he  have  been 
dreaming? 

Certainly  not ;  he  never  was  wider  awake.  No, 
but  the  wretches  intended  an  ambush,  a  sudden 
onslaught  from  all  sides.  Mr.  Enfield  awoke 
James  Gilbert  quietly  with  a  whisper,  and  they 
looked  to  their  rifles. 

"  Could  it  have  been  one  of  our  own  Caffres, 
sir?"  asked  Gilbert — "one  of  our  own  fellows 
prowling  about?" 

"  I  tell  you  he  had  the  war-paint,"  was  the  an- 
swer. 

"  Well,  sir,  if  they  intended  mischief,  they'd  ha' 
been  down  on  us  before  now,"  said  Gilbert,  peering 
about,  with  his  rifle  in  his  fingers. 

"  Perhaps  'twas  only  an  advanced  picket,"  quoth 
his  master,  \n  military  parlance.  "  Let  us  go  and 
rummage  the  bush  a  little ;  we  needn't  wake  the 
ministers ;"  and  they  went.  "  I  wouldn't  disturb 
that  poor  lady  for  a  mere  alarm." 

But  there  was  no  more  stir  than  in  a  fossil  forest, 
nor  sign  of  living  thing  beyond  what  were  con- 
nected with  the  two  watchfires. 

"  It  is  very  strange ;  I  certainly  saw  the  face  and 
the  glitter  of  the  assagai  point  over  the  shoulder. 
The  fellow  has  evaporated  somehow." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  153 

Gilbert's  private  opinion  was  that  his  master  had 
been  dreaming,  though  he  was  too  respectful  to 
affirm  it.  He  only  reiterated  his  former  idea :  "  If 
they  intended  mischief,  whoever  they  are,  they'd 
ha'  been  down  on  us  before  now." 

"  The  savages  are  probably  waiting  till  they  find 
us  off  our  guard  again,"  said  the  suspicious  sports- 
man. 

"  Then,  sir,  we  won't  get  off  it ;  we'll  keep  guard 
all  night,"  returned  Gilbert. 

And  so  they  did.  Somebody  else  watched  out- 
side the  kloof  also. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

KAMA'S    FAITHFULNESS. 

I  HEN  morning  light  broke  in  upon  the  low- 
ering watchfires  —  later  by  the  length  of 
time  that  it  took  to  penetrate  the  dense 
thorn-thickets  than  it  had  dawned  on  the 
tableland  outside  the  valley  —  Mr.  Enfield  had 
fairly  yielded  to  his  fatigue  and  slept  profoundly 
in  the  depths  of  a  huge  kaross  wrapped  about  him. 
The  whole  encampment  was  stirring  before  he 
moved,  and  then  the  first  sight  that  met  his  eyes 
was  his  war-painted  Caffre  squatting  in  sociable 
conversation  with  Messrs.  Mason  and  Owen! 

"  Halloa !"  ejaculated  the  sportsman,  sitting  up- 
right, "  you  were  skulking  in  the  bushes  last  night, 
my  good  fellow !" 

"All  night  keeping  guard  at  the  mouth  of  the 
kloof,"  says  Mr.  Owen.  "  A  faithful  fellow !  Don't 
you  know  Kama  from  Tabor?" 

"  I  don't  believe  in  one  of  them,"  replied  Mr. 
Enfield,  rather  ill-humouredly,  as  he  disentangled 

154 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  155 

himself  from  the  folds  of  the  skin  cloak.  "Why 
didn't  the  fellow  come  forward  honestly  last  night? 
There  was  I  thinking  of  nothing  less  than  a  Caffre 
ambush,  and  spying  about  in  all  directions  in  the 
dark.  How  do  you  know  that  he  is  not  a  spy 
among  us  at  this  moment?" 

Kama  looked  somewhat  surprised  at  the  un- 
mistakably displeased  glances  from  the  English 
"  Maser,"  though  he  understood  nothing  of  the 
accompanying  words. 

"  He  saw  us  all  asleep  and  did  not  wish  to 
arouse  us,"  answered  Mr.  Mason,  "  and  went  out- 
side the  kloof  to  watch  till  morning." 

"  My  dear  sir,  you  believe  everything  these  black 
fellows  tell  you,"  was  Mr.  Enfield's  remark,  while 
a  wise  smile  of  incredulity  curled  his  lips.  "  I 
have  been  in  the  country  some  years,  and  my  ex- 
perience has  led  me  to  believe  nothing  a  native 
says  which  there  is  not  positive  evidence  to  up- 
hold. Depend  upon  it,  this  fellow  either  ran  back 
to  his  associates  with  news  of  our  whereabouts  or 
curled  himself  up  to  sleep  in  a  tree.  It  isn't  in 
their  nature,  my  dear  Mr.  Mason — it  isn't  in  their 
nature !"  And  Mr.  Enfield  shook  himself  into 
straightness  as  he  stood  up  an,l  looked  down  oil 
his  companions. 


156  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  Yet  you  could  believe  in  the  faithful  guardian- 
ship of  a  dog,  Charley  ?"  observed  Mr.  Owen. 

"A  dog?  Yes.  The  brute,  unreasoning  attach- 
ment of  an  animal  is  a  fact;  these  Caffres  have 
reason  only  for  purposes  of  cunning  and  knavery. 
I  tell  you  that's  my  experience." 

"  But  you  never  have  been  brought  in  contact 
with  Christian  Caffres,"  said  his  friend.  "  Come, 
Charley,  don't  be  cynical  because  the  painted  war- 
rior in  the  bush  turned  out  to  be  an  ally  instead 
of  an  enemy.  He  has  brought  rather  important 
news."  And  Mr.  Owen  asked  Kama  to  recite  his 
intelligence  afresh. 

"  The  word  has  been  given  to  kill,"  was  his  first 
startling  announcement.  "  Makomo  will  utterly 
destroy  the  white  man ;  he  will  put  on  the  white 
man  the  cold  hand  ;  only  the  blue  water  will  stop 
Makomo." 

"  I  dare  say  something  else  will  stop  him  a  long 
way  short  of  it,"  observed  Mr.  Enfield,  sarcastic- 
ally. "  Did  Kama  see  the  great  chief?"  he  asked, 
in  Caffre. 

"Yes,  Kama  went  with  warriors  to  meet  Ma- 
komo. Kama  saw  tie  chief  and  his  ten  wives  and 
his  child  Magistrate.  The  chief  now  sits  in  Tabor, 
in  the  teacher's  house  " 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  157 

"  Magistrate !  what  an  odd  name  for  a  Caffre 
child!"  said  Mr.  Owen. 

"  Oh,  Makomo  is  known  to  be  a  very  whimsical 
fellow,"  rejoined  Mr.  Enfield.  "I  suppose  he 
thought  the  word  sounded  well,  and  he  knew  it  to 
be  applied  to  people  in  authority.  He  is  also  much 
given  to  intoxication,  the  settlers  say ;  he  has  often 
been  seen  under  the  influence  of  drink  in  the  streets 
of  Fort  Beaufort." 

Mr.  Mason  could  scarcely  repress  a  groan : 
"  The  work  of  my  hands,  our  pretty  cottage,  to  be 
the  lair  of  a  drunken  Caffre !" 

"  But  when  such  a  broken  reed  heads  the  insur- 
rection I  have  no  fear  for  the  ultimate  result,"  said 
Mr.  Enfield.  "At  present,  however,  we  had  best 
bend  before  the  storm,  and  be  off  as  soon  as  we  can 
get  over  breakfast." 

Kama  had  brought  his  assagais  to  the  help  of 
his  white  friends !  Kama  would  fight  for  the 
teachers  until  he  died !  These  were  the  declara- 
tions of  the  painted  savage,  Avho  had  proved  his 
fidelity  by  watching  all  night  as  a  sentinel,  unbid- 
den. The  missionaries  saw  the  moisture  of  feeling 
glisten  in  his  hard,  black  eyes ;  they  could  not  dis- 
believe the  earnest  words. 

And  Kama's  mother  ?     She  had  given  him  her 


158  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

blessing  and  bade  him  come.  Hintsa  the  chief 
would  take  care  of  her.  And  Kama's  wife  ?  She 
would  stay  with  his  mother  till  her  husband  re- 
turned ;  his  mother  would  teach  her  concerning  the 
good  God  above  the  sky.  And  Kama's  cattle? 
His  whole  worldly  wealth  and  means  of  subsistence 
were  in  these.  "  Let  them  go,  if  Kama's  spear  can 
protect  the  white  teachers  !" 

"He  may  be  of  use,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  when 
they  held  a  conference  about  retaining  him,  "  know- 
ing all  the  ways  of  the  warriors  of  his  tribes  better 
than  my  fellows,  who  come  more  from  the  south- 
west. Besides,  it  will  be  a  splendid  opportunity 
of  testing  your  convert ;  Gilbert  and  I,  between  us, 
are  determined  never  to  lose  sight  of  him." 

"I  don't  think  you'll  find  Kama  running  away," 
said  Mr.  Owen,  with  a  smile. 

And  truly  when  the  skeptical  sportsman  had 
watched  for  a  little,  he  saw  sundry  symptoms  in 
this  poor  painted  Caffre  which  in  a  white  person 
he  would  have  deemed  indicative  of  a  close  attach- 
ment. He  saw  the  bright,  dark  eyes  following 
Mr.  Mason  about,  and  their  owner  ready  to  spring 
up  and  serve  him  on  the  slightest  appearance  of 
need.  But  when  the  white  baby,  nestling  in  its 
father's  arms,  caught  sight  of  the  awful  painted 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  159 

visage  and  roared  forth  its  fear,  Kama  took  the 
circumstance  as  the  highest  compliment  to  the 
terror  of  his  appearance,  and  its  consequent  efficacy 
against  the  enemy,  and  esteemed  himself  honoured 
in  being  sent  utterly  to  the  rear  out  of  ken  from 
the  wagon. 

Even  after  him  and  his  stately  stride  walked  the 
master  of  the  cortege,  and  Mr.  Owen  last  of  all. 

"  I  feel  quite  out  of  character  with  a  rifle  on  my 
shoulder,"  said  the  missionary.  "  It  does  not  suit 
one  whose  message  is  peace  to  all  men,  even  to 
enemies."  Like  an  echo  in  his  own  mind  came  the 
words,  "That  the  Lord  God  might  dwell  among 
them."  And  was  not  this  indeed  the  object  of  his 
message  ? 

"  But  I  have  been  wishing  to  ask  you,  Enfield, 
what  you  think  about  my  project  of  going  among 
the  tribes  in  various  parts  of  the  country  to  preach 
the  gospel  ?  Do  you  think  the  plan  feasible  ?  You 
have  seen  a  great  deal  of  various  parts  of  South 
Africa,  and  ought  to  be  able  to  give  a  correct  judg- 
ment." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  I  should  say  what  I  think 
are  your  chances  of  success  in  such  an  expedition  ? 
or  do  you  ask  merely  as  to  your  safety  and  the 
practicability  of  the  scheme?" 


160  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  The  latter,"  said  Mr.  Owen. 

"  If  you  bring  beads  and  blankets,  you  will  be 
received  everywhere  with  the  greatest  honour,"  was 
the  reply,  "  but  simply  on  your  footing  as  teacher 
of  a  new  religion,  and  that  the  white  man's,  I 
doubt." 

"You  think  I  should  meet  with  violent  oppo- 
sition ?" 

"  Perhaps  not  in  most  instances,  but  with  curi- 
osity, and  then,  when  the  substantial  benefits  don't 
appear,  with  indifference.  The  Caffres — and  all 
other  tribes  I've  seen  are  the  same  in  this  respect 
— value  us  white  men  for  what  they  get  out  of  us. 
You  know  that  in  many  instances  they  consider 
themselves  immeasurably  our  superiors." 

"If  I  can  get  a  hearing,"  said  Mr.  Owen — "a 
hearing  from  whatever  motive — I  may  leave  the 
rest  in  the  hands  of  Him  who  has  promised  that 
his  word  shall  not  return  to  him  void.  I  am  called 
upon  only  to  be  faithful  to  the  message  of  salvation 
in  my  keeping,  and  speak  it  upon  every  occasion 
as  God  shall  give  me  grace." 

"This  hurried  retreat  and  abortive  year's  work 
would  have  given  most  men  a  surfeit  of  it,"  re- 
marked Mr.  Enfield. 

"  I  don't  want  to  appear  at  all  as  a  hero  to  you, 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  161 

Charley,  or  as  moved  by  impulses  out  of  the  every- 
day run  of  things ;  I  cannot  deny  that  the  charm 
which  civilized  life  and  learned  ease  have  for  me  is 
great ;  but  the  desire  to  serve  my  Lord  and  Master 
is  yet  greater — blessed  be  his  name!" 

There  was  silence  between  them  for  a  few  min- 
utes. Mr.  Enfield  was  seldom  long  in  the  company 
of  his  old  friend  without  a  sensation  as  of  a  chasm 
separating  them  one  from  the  other  coming  across 
his  feelings.  It  was  not  pleasant,  especially  as  he 
always  seemed  to  himself  on  the  dark  and  danger- 
ous side  and  Philip  Owen — safe. 

"  If  you  intend  to  travel  toward  Namaqua-land," 
he  said,  breaking  the  pause  and  trying  to  shake  off 
the  impression,  "you  have  dangers  to  encounter 
other  than  the  hostility  of  the  natives.  The  whole 
country  seems  fit  only  for  wild  beasts ;  the  wretched 
people  that  inhabit  it  seem  to  drag  on  a  miserable 
existence,  wandering  from  place  to  place  for  roots 
and  game,  their  sole  object  and  single  idea  how  to 
keep  themselves  alive." 

"  Poor  creatures !  how  sadly  they  want  to  hear 
of  Jesus  the  great  Saviour  and  to  be  renewed  by 
the  divine  Spirit !"  said  Mr.  Owen,  his  face  grow- 
ing bright  with  the  thought.  "  Enfield,  you  en- 
courage me." 
11 


162  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  I  certainly  had  not  intended  to  do  so,"  was  the 
reply  of  that  gentleman.  "  I  tell  you  the  natives 
there  are  absolutely  like  beasts ;  I  don't  know  that 
they  have  the  least  idea  of  any  worship  or  re- 
ligion." 

"  Gilbert  has  been  through  Namaqua-land  with 
you?" 

"  Yes,  and  everywhere  else.  You  could  not  have 
a  better  guide  if  you  are  determined  to  venture. 
Few  persons  have  seen  so  much  of  South  Africa  as 
myself  and  he." 

"  I'll  speak  to  him  this  moment,"  said  Mr.  Owen, 
striding  forward  rapidly  to  where  Gilbert  walked 
beside  the  wagon. 

"And  I'll  investigate  this  convert,  now  that  his 
teachers  are  absent,  and  he  can  have  no  motive  to 
falsehood,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  stepping  into  the 
same  line  with  Kama. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE    KARROO. 

|  HAT  did  you  think  of  before  you  learned 
about  the  white  man's  God  ?"  was  Mr. 
Enfield's  first  question  to  Kama,  put  in  his 
own  sonorous  tongue. 

The  Caifre  paused  a  minute,  as  if  introverting 
his  thoughts  and  casting  them  back — always  a  dif- 
ficult process  to  a  savage  mind,  whose  past  scarce 
retires  farther  than  last  week,  and  to  whom  last 
year  is  an  impossible  abstraction. 

"Had  you  any  God  before  the  white  man's 
God  ?"  asked  Mr.  Enfield,  seeing  his  embarrass- 
ment over  the  other  thought.  But  the  answer  to 
the  first  question  came : 

"  Kama  thought  of  nothing  but  his  cattle,  and 
to  find  them  pasture  at  the  posts.  Nothing  but 
his  cattle,"  reiterated  the  Caffre,  rolling  his  eyes, 
set  in  red  ochre  circles,  round  upon  his  questioner. 

"  And  yet  Kama  did  not  stay  with  his  cattle. 
Kama  left  them  yesterday  to  Makomo's  Caffres. 
Does  Kama  then  care  for  them  no  longer  ?" 

163 


164  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Mr.  Enfield  knew  that  the  whole  possessions  of 
a  Caffre  are  his  herds — that  his  social  standing  in 
his  tribe  depends  on  their  amount,  for  he  is  deemed 
little  better  than  an  outcast  who  has  not  at  least 
one  or  two  cows.  The  European  was  not  there- 
fore surprised  to  hear  that  Kama's  sole  thought 
had  been  his  cattle.  It  was  the  answer  he  expect- 
ed, but  he  miscalculated  in  his  ungenerous  belief 
that  the  same  was  the  case  still. 

"  Kama  does  care,  and  wishes  his  herds  were 
here,"  with  a  sigh  ;  "  but  Kama  likes  better  to  be 
with  the  teachers ;  he  is  ready  to  fight  for  them ;" 
and  he  rattled  his  assagais  by  a  quick  movement 
of  the  hand  grasping  the  bundle  of  shafts. 

"  Wherefore  does  Kama  want  to  be  with  the 
teachers  ?  Is  it  that  they  will  reward  him  with  a 
present  of  blankets  or  of  oxen?" 

Reward  for  the  smallest  service  was  an  idea 
which  went  right  home  to  a  Caffre's  characteristic 
selfishness.  Kama  had  no  trouble  in  the  compre- 
hension of  this  sentence.  The  quick,  nervous 
movement  of  his  head  showed  the  feeling  which 
in  a  white  man  would  have  crimsoned  the  face, 
but  was  invisible  through  Kama's  bronze  and  red 
ochre. 

"  Oxen !  blankets  !"  repeated   the   Caffre ;  "  no, 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  165 

Kama  wants  none  of  these  things.  Kama  loves 
the  teachers !" 

Mr.  Enfield  made  no  remark  for  a  few  moments, 
revolving  how  he  should  try  the  man's  fidelity  still 
farther.  It  was  a  cruel  tampering  with  Kama's 
principle  : 

"  Do  you  see  the  pack-ox  yonder — that  mottled 
one  without  horns  ?  I  will  give  Kama  that  ox  to 
be  his  own  and  to  take  back  to  his  own  village  if 
he  will  go  away  and  leave  the  teachers — go  back 
to  his  wife  and  his  mother  and  his  tribe,  for  the 
teachers  can  fight  well  for  themselves,  and  do  not 
want  Kama's  help." 

"  And  can  the  white  man  give  me  the  words  of 
the  holy  Book  which  Mason  tells  me  ?"  asked  the 
Caffre.  "  I  will  stay  where  I  hear  about  the  Son 
of  God,  who  died  to  save  Kama  from  the  burning 
fire ;  and  I  also  love  Jesus  Christ." 

The  simplicity  and  humility  of  these  words 
struck  Mr.  Enfield  strangely.  "  I  also"  Cer- 
tainly another  who  loved  Jesus  Christ  was  not  the 
English  gentleman  walking  beside  the  half-naked 
savage  in  all  the  pre-eminence  of  vaunted  civiliza- 
tion, for  the  blessed  name  awoke  in  his  heart  no 
feeling  of  reverence  or  of  affection. 

"  Then  you  should  take  off  the  war-paint,"  said 


166  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Mr.  Enfield;  "you  should  put  by  the  assagai  and 
the  shield  ;  you  should — " 

"  Mason  did  not  tell  me,"  was  the  reply.  "  Let 
Mason  tell  me." 

But  Kama  looked  troubled  ;  the  inconsistency 
seemed  to  occur  to  him  for  the  first  time. 

"  He  is  a  young  and  weak  disciple,"  said  the 
missionary  by  and  by  when  spoken  to  on  the  sub- 
ject. "  I  was  unwilling  to  put  a  yoke  on  his  neck 
which  he  might  not  be  able  to  bear  for  the  present. 
It  would  be  better,  if  possible,  that  these  native 
observances  should  be  righted  from  within  than 
from  without." 

"  I  don't  understand,"  said  Mr.  Enfield. 

"Well,  you  know  the  grand  principle  that  if  the 
heart  be  right  the  life  will  come  right  in  accordance 
therewith.  Kama's  own  conscience,  if  he  be  in- 
deed enlightened  by  the  indwelling  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  as  I  can  have  little  doubt,  will  gradually 
work  off  such  of  his  native  customs  as  are  incon- 
sistent with  his  new  faith  in  the  pure  and  perfect 
Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

"  I  can  imagine  that  you  feel  it  would  militate 
against  your  success  in  teaching  them  religion  to 
make  an  open  attack  upon  their  long-established 
practices." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  167 

"  Yes ;  added  to  which  I  have  a  fear  of  infring- 
ing upon  that  charge  of  St.  Paul's  to  the  Galatian 
Church:  'Stand  fast  therefore  in  the  liberty  where- 
with Christ  has  made  you  free.'  I  would  be  afraid 
of  perhaps  putting  forward  my  own  notions  or 
prejudices;  I  would  rather  leave  them  to  the  sure 
working  of  the  new  living  power  in  their  hearts. 
Hitherto  I  have  not  been  mistaken  in  calculating 
on  its  operation.  For  instance,  one  of  the  earliest 
leanings  of  a  native  toward  civilization  and  Chris- 
tianity is  shown  in  the  desire  for  more  perfect  cov- 
ering than  his  countrymen  wear.  I  was  surprised 
to  find  Kama  in  his  old  warlike  equipment  this 
morning;  it  looked  like  retrograding.  I  dare  say, 
now  that  you  have  stirred  his  conscience  about  it, 
he  will  of  his  own  accord  relinquish  his  paint  and 
his  war-cloak.  This  matter  of  clothing  may  seem 
a  trifle  to  indicate  a  man's  state  of  mind,  but  it  is 
not  so  in  reality.  Then  as  to  the  practice  of  po- 
lygamy, this  very  Kama,  without  any  direct  teach- 
ing from  either  of  us,  in  fact  without  any  conver- 
sation on  the  subject,  has  amazed  me  by  his  ready 
reception  of  the  precepts  of  the  gospel  after  his 
soul  had  grasped  the  one  great  central  point  of 
all  truth — Christ's  substitution  for  the  sinner. 
My  dear  sir,  clearness  of  vision  as  to  all  mat- 


168  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

ters  of  practice  will  come  from  this  one  matter  of 
belief." 

"  I  think  we  expect  too  much  from  our  con- 
verts," said  Mr.  Owen.  "  Let  us  remember  that 
the  heathen  mind  (as  I  have  somewhere  read),  its 
whole  ideas,  habits,  hopes,  are  moulded  according 
to  millenniums  of  idolatry — foul  and  degrading 
idolatry !" 

"But  Christ  is  sufficient  cure  for  that,"  observed 
Joseph  Mason,  meekly. 

"  If  we  remember  that  custom  is  only  an  ex- 
pression in  external  matters  of  the  internal  nature, 
whatever  remodels  the  soul  must  remodel  the 
habits  and  the  manner,"  continued  Mr.  Owen,  fol- 
lowing his  own  train  of  reflections  with  the  ab- 
stractedness natural  to  him ;  "  hence  we  go  forth, 
not  to  be  reformers  of  customs  or  preachers  of 
civilization  merely,  but  trusting,  knowing  that 
that  will  follow  in  the  wake  of  our  great  gospel 
message." 

"  I  suppose  the  Roman  converts  lived  like  the 
other  citizens  of  Rome  in  all  things  not  sinful," 
said  Mr.  Mason,  "but  the  spirit  of  their  lives  was 
changed." 

"  We  are  not  to  Anglicise  the  Caffres,"  observed 
Mr.  Owen.  "  The  physical  characteristics  of  their 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  169 

country  can  never  be  made  such  as  England's,  nor 
their  own  conformation  of  head  and  body  be  made 
like  an  Englishman's ;  so  we  must  not  lay  upon 
them  any  burden  of  habits  unsuitable,  just  because 
such  happen  to  suit  our  preconceived  notions  best." 

"  I  agree  with  you,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  cordially. 
"  That  always  seemed  to  me  a  great  obstacle  to 
the  reception  of  Christianity — the  sort  of  necessity 
which  appeared  for  a  denationalizing  of  the  native 
tribes — a  going  counter  to  every  idea  of  their  lives 
and  circumstances — a  sham  imitation  of  Euro- 
peans." 

"  Let  me  guard  my  statement  on  the  other  side," 
returned  Philip  Owen  with  a  smile.  "While  in 
all  things  indifferent  I  would  have  the  missionary 
yield,  or  practice  the  statesmanlike  quality  known 
as  '  laissez  faire,'  I  would  draw  a  broad  line  where 
evil  begins.  Never  for  a  moment  should  a  dere- 
liction from  God's  moral  law  be  sanctioned,  or  any 
custom  approved  of  in  a  convert  which  trenched 
on  moral  wrong." 

"  I  have  almost  despaired  at  times,"  said  Mr. 
Mason,  "  when  delicate  matters  of  the  sort  came 
before  me,  and  my  own  wisdom  or  experience 
seemed  quite  inadequate  to  solve  the  question. 
How  have  I  been  driven  to  plead  that  promise! 


170  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

'  If  any  man  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God  and 
it  shall  be  given  him.'  " 

"There  is  one  of  the  most  precious  results  of 
missionary  life  on  a  man's  self,"  observed  Mr. 
Owen,  brightly — "the  constant  dependence  upon 
our  God  that  is  enforced ;  the  constant  necessity  for 
intercourse  with  him ;  the  joy  of  his  perpetual  pres- 
ence sensibly  felt  in  the  soul  by  reason  of  our  fre- 
quent appeals  to  him.  I  think  if  there  were  no 
other  cause  for  my  selecting  the  life  of  a  mission- 
ary, this  state  of  spiritual  gladness  would  be 
enough." 

Again  Mr.  Enfield  had  the  inexplicable  sensation 
of  being  outside  of  something  that  his  companions 
knew  and  felt,  with  a  chasm  between  which  he 
could  not  cross. 

The  monotonous  day  passed  by,  all  glare  from 
skies ;  the  oxen  plodded  along  at  their  usual  pace 
of  little  more  than  two  miles  an  hour ;  no  outspan- 
ning  was  permitted  at  noon.  Before  evening  they 
had  gone  through  the  defiles  which  gave  passage 
among  the  hills,  and  came  upon  a  strip  of  Karroo 
country.  No  sign  of  the  dreaded  enemy  appeared 
in  any  direction.  But  a  broad  plain,  covered  with 
whitish  and  sunburnt  grass  in  the  intervals  of 
sand,  its  only  verdure  a  few  green  streaks  denoting 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  171 

the  course  of  probable  streamlets,  beside  which  mi- 
mosas had  taken  root  and  flourished  in  defiance  of 
the  arid  soil  and  desiccating  atmosphere. 

"  We  had  best  outspan  for  the  night  at  one  of 
those  green  spots/'  Mr.  Enfield  concluded.  "  I'll 
push  on  with  Mynheer  to  choose  a  ground ;"  which 
he  discovered  not  to  be  so  easy  as  he  would  have 
imagined  from  just  looking  at  the  land.  Many  of 
the  pools  were  quite  dried  up,  nothing  but  hard- 
baked  mud  remaining;  the  streamlets  were  mere 
threads  whispering  along  under  the  sedge  timor- 
ously, and  his  oxen  would  require  an  abundance 
of  water  if  it  could  be  had. 

"I  think  that  cover  of  wait-a-bit  thorn  and 
tamarisk,  yonder,  looks  rather  more  promising," 
said  he  to  Gilbert,  who  had  accompanied  him  in 
his  exploration.  He  was  not  mistaken  in  his 
hopes :  on  the  quiescent  pool  beneath  the  mimosas 
floated  the  bubbles  of  a  secret  spring. 

"  We  will  anticipate  their  lordships,  the  lions, 
and  drink  it  all  up,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  permitting 
Mynheer  a  long  draught.  "  I  suppose  all  the  game 
in  the  Karroo  make  for  this  pool.  Do  you  see  any 
spoor  ?" 

"Antelopes'  feet,  sir;  so  we  maybe  on  the  look- 
out for  venison.  They're  gemsbok,  I  think,"  but 


172  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

no  close  examination  could  satisfy  him  on  this 
point,  owing  to  the  imperfectness  of  the  "  spoor"  or 
marks  on  the  grass  and  shifting  sand. 

"  Much  more  likely  to  be  redbok,"  said  his 
master,  "for  gemsbok  can  go  so  long  without 
water  that  they  take  little  trouble  to  find  it  while 
they  can  scrape  up  bulbs.  Are  the  hoofs  sharp- 
pointed  ?" 

As  he  waited  the  answer,  while  Gilbert  stooped, 
what  was  that  rising  in  the  thicket,  swelling  itself, 
with  deadly  eyes  and  forked  tongue,  its  head  quiv- 
ering to  the  spring?  Mr.  Enfield  uttered  a  warn- 
ing shout,  "  Mamba,  niamba  !" 

It  was  the  name  of  the  deadliest  serpent  in  South 
Africa.  Gilbert  jumped  aside  just  as  the  creature 
shot  from  its  circular  folds  and  missed  him,  and 
immediately  rolled  over  stricken  by  a  bullet  from 
Mr.  Enfield's  pistol. 

"  There  was  death  in  twenty  minutes,  if  the 
thing  had  bitten  you,"  observed  the  gentleman, 
watching  its  writhings  as  he  reloaded.  "  What  a 
monster  it  is !" 

Nevertheless,  the  Caffres  made  meat  of  its  re- 
mains, by  and  by,  and  had  great  jabbering  over 
their  watchfire  as  they  devoured  the  viand.  Later 
in  the  evening,  Kama,  who  had  cleansed  away  hi? 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  173 

paint  somehow,  as  Mr.  Mason  predicted,  joined  his 
compatriots  in  the  feast,  rather  to  the  disgust  of  the 
fastidious  Mr.  Enfield. 

"  Why,  Charley,  you  forget  that  the  ceremonial 
law  about  clean  and  unclean  food  was  done  away, 
according  to  Peter's  vision !" 

"  But  a  snake,  of  all  things  !  And  there  he  is 
devouring  as  greedily  as  any  of  the  pagans !" 

"  I  should  be  sorry  for  that,  as  his  Christianity 
ought  to  teach  him  self-control,"  replied  the  mis- 
sionary. "Still,  reflect  on  the  force  of  old  habit, 
and  the  ungoverned  animalism  of  a  whole  life  will 
not  be  suppressed  in  a  month.  Remember  the  an- 
tecedents of  this  poor  African  !" 

"Human  beings  must  be  inconsistent,"  moral- 
ized Mr.  Enfield. 

"A  case  of  the  mote  and  the  beam,"  said  Philip 
Owen.  "And  as  inconsistency  might  lead  a  young 
English  convert  into  some  scene  of  worldliness 
where  undoubtedly  the  follower  of  Christ  ought 
never  to  be  seen,  and  the  inconsistency  of  a  pro- 
fessedly Christian  man,  member  of  a  church,  per- 
haps a  churchwarden  or  a  deacon,  might  lead  him 
to  covetous  competition  for  gain,  so  the  inconsist- 
ency and  besetting  sin  of  this  poor  Caifre  is  an 
immoderate  indulgence  in  food.  '  Let  him  that  is 


174  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

without  sin  cast  the  first  stone.'  Our  great  adver- 
sary the  devil  has  temptations  for  each  according 
to  the  calibre  of  the  nature.  The  intellectual 
temptations  which  assail  me  will  never  touch 
Kama,  while  I  would  pass  by  the  flesh-eating,  ir- 
resistible to  him,  with  repulsion  instead  of  desire." 

When  the  party  gathered  for  worship,  Kama  was 
as  devout  as  usual,  echoing  every  word  of  the  mis- 
sionary's prayer  that  he  could  comprehend,  chant- 
ing the  hymn  with  fervour  in  his  pleasing  tenor 
tones.  A  very  different  being  he  was  from  that 
over  the  fleshpots,  though  as  yet  he  was  not  en- 
lightened enough  to  arrive  at  the  high  attainment 
of  moderation.  But  let  no  one  charge  him  with 
insincerity ;  he  was  only  an  ignorant  Caffre,  newly 
awakened  to  know  the  value  of  his  soul  and  the 
need  of  a  Saviour :  all  the  cravings  of  the  "  old 
man"  were  strong  in  him  still,  and  the  contest 
with  the  new  nature  had  but  just  begun. 

During  the  pauses  of  that  worship  a  strange, 
low  whispering  and  muttering  seemed  to  echo  from 
the  wide  bleached  plain  around  the  cover,  as  if 
somewhat  were  creeping  nearer  through  the  long 
faded  grass — not  in  the  air,  but  more  as  a  sensation 
through  the  earth  came  that  slight  sound.  Many 
would  not  have  noticed  it,  but  Mr.  Enfield,  accus- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  175 

tomed  to  the  vicissitudes  of  the  climate,  and  having 
lived  so  long  in  gypsy  fashion  under  atmospheric 
influences,  caught  it  at  once.  "  Too  early  for  the 
rainy  season,"  he  said  to  himself,  and  summoned 
Gilbert  to  go  with  him  round  the  encampment, 
where  outside  the  thorn-cover  the  great  white  plain 
looked  up  at  the  great  white  moon,  and  received 
her  silver  coolness  descending  as  a  benison. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

CHAIN-LIGHTNING. 

(IDE,  dreary  and  silent,  except  for  that  oc- 
casional sob  through  the  dried  tufts  of 
grass,  spread  the  Karroo  land  before  their 
eyes. 

""We  had  better  make  all  fast  and  water-tight," 
said  Gilbert,  after  one  minute's  gaze  at  the  southern 
heavens,  where  lay  a  bank  of  cloud  creeping  up 
from  the  Indian  Ocean,  unrolling  in  mighty  dusk 
folds  across  toward  the  unconscious  moon. 

"And  that  ring  she  has  around  her  don't  hardly 
ever  mean  any  good,"  added  the  carpenter.  "  It's 
what  the  blackies  call  '  holding  a  council,'  because 
their  own  warriors  sit  in  a  round  like  that,  and  the 
council  generally  ends  in  a  regular  storm,  as  I've 
noticed." 

"  'Twill  be  two  hours  before  it  breaks,"  observed 
Mr.  Enfield,  referring  to  the  expected  storm.  "  So 
we'll  have  time  enough  to  get  all  ship-shape.  I 

think,  if  there's  likely  to  be  much  of  that,"  nodding 
176 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  177 

toward  the  horizon  all  lit  with  streaks  of  lightning, 
"  our  bivouac  had  best  be  on  the  open  plain." 

"  Well,  that's  harmless  enough,  sir,  if  the  forked 
didn't  come;  but  it's  likely  to  knock  over  a  tree 
or  two  of  them  mimosas  if  it  does,"  observed  Gil- 
bert. "Then  there's  all  the  iron-work  of  the 
wagon,  sir."  ;  •  • 

Mr.  Enfield  looked  at  the  freaks  of  the  sheet- 
lightning  for  some  seconds  in  silence.  Very  beau- 
tiful it  was,  playing  about  among  the  cavities  and 
precipices  of  cloudland,  springing  out  of  thick 
darkness  with  a  grand  burst  of  illumination  which 
revealed  rolling  and  twisting  masses  of  vapour, 
working  convulsively  afar,  as  if  longing  to  get 
loose  and  fling  themselves  abroad  in  freedom. 

He  had  opened  his  lips  to  speak,  when  suddenly 
from  the  edge  of  the  distant  hills  appeared  to 
spring  a  shaft  of  burning  light,  piercing  the  clouds 
above  as  with  a  sword-blade,  and  immediately  from 
the  point  thereof  radiated  other  shafts,  branching 
like  leafless  limbs  and  twigs  of  a  tree,  all  of  living 
light.  A  few  seconds,  and  it  burst  asunder  like 
shivered  links  of  silver,  and  the  first  low  growl  of 
thunder  muttered  along  the  air. 

"  Ha  !  there's  the  chain-lightning,"  said  Mr.  En- 
field.  "  I'm  afraid  we  are  in  for  a  heavy  storm." 
12 


178  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

He  turned  back  at  once  into  the  cover,  re  used  up 
the  Caffres,  who  were  already  flung  in  different 
directions  about  their  fire  fast  asleep,  and  com- 
manded that  the  wagon  should  be  wheeled  from 
under  the  trees  into  a  more  open  place. 

Sooner  than  he  expected  the  outburst  came. 
The  whirling  vapours  got  loose  and  blotted  out 
the  moon ;  that,  muttering  along  the  ground,  in- 
creased to  a  moaning,  to  a  growl,  to  almost  a  sen- 
sible vibration.  And  the  signal  for  the  tempest 
was  a  tremendous  clap  of  thunder,  which  seemed 
to  rend  the  very  heavens  apart,  after  whicli  peal 
upon  peal  rang  through  the  air  in  the  quickest 
succession.  As  the  storm  gathered  force,  thunder 
seemed  to  burst  from  different  quarters  at  once, 
triple  claps  together,  resounding  with  scarce  an 
interval;  and  nowhere  is  thunder  so  loud  as  in 
Africa. 

The  Caffres  cowered  under  the  wagon  and  on 
the  lee  side  of  the  huddled,  shrinking  oxen,  every 
superstitious  fear  aroused.  Great  witch-doctors 
had  been  at  work  to  produce  this  tempest — great 
charms  had  been  used  by  some  celebrated  rain- 
maker. By  every  blaze  of  the  vivid  lightning 
those  who  raised  their  eyes  cojild  see  the  im- 
movable forms  of  the  white  men,  Mr.  Owen  and 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  179 

Mr.  Enfield,  sitting  on  a  little  sandy  hillock  gazing 
at  the  storm.  It  was  a  courage  strange  to  the 
heathens,  who  cowered  beneath  the  cart  and  cov- 
ered their  heads  with  the  karosses,  which  could 
not  shut  out  that  blinding  light.  Nothing  is  more 
awful  to  a  savage  than  commotion  in  the  skies  and 
air,  which  he  looks  upon  as  the  home  of  things 
supernatural  and  to  be  dreaded. 

Gilbert  heard  a  panting  close  to  him  in  the  in- 
tervals of  darkness  between  the  flashes.  It  was 
Sackaboni. 

"  My  father,"  whispered  the  lad,  grasping  his 
arm  when  he  saw  that  he  was  recognized  by  the 
next  blazing  glare — "  my  father,  is  the  great  God 
angry?  Perhaps  he  is  coming,  as  you  said.  Sack- 
aboni very  bad — very  wrong.  Oh  the  great  God 
is  very  angry  !" 

His  bronze  hand  was  pressed  over  his  eyes 
forcibly — he  shook  with  fear.  The  terrors  of  God 
had  unloosed  conscience.  "  Sackaboni  afraid  ! 
Sackaboni  very  bad,  all  wrong,"  he  reiterated  pit- 
eously. 

"Jesus  Christ  all  good,"  said  Gilbert,  turning 
his  eyes  on  the  shrinking  boy — "Jesus  Christ  all 
good  for  Sackaboni." 

But  the  blessed  truth  could  not  gain  entrance  at 


180  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

that  time;  fear  seemed  to  overpower  every  other 
sensation  and  sensibility  in  the  young  heathen. 

"  You  not  afraid  ?"  he  said,  observing  Gilbert's 
quiescence ;  "  nor  teacher,  nor  Jan,  nor  Kama — 
they  not  afraid  ?"  as  if  he  wanted  an  explanation 
of  the  phenomenon. 

"  Because  God  is  my  friend,"  said  the  carpenter, 
and  with  utterance  of  the  words  was  granted  him 
a  very  precious  realization  of  their  truth.  "A  man 
does  not  fear  his  friend  who  loves  him,  so  I  am  not 
afraid  of  my  God's  thunder !" 

Sometimes,  when  we  speak  a  confession  of  Jesus, 
the  reward  comes  with  the  very  utterance — a  reward 
of  inward  peace  and  joy.  And  so  James  Gilbert 
now  looked  up  at  the  black,  wrath-covered  skies, 
cleft  with  a  hundred  daggers  of  fire  flashing  from 
all  points,  and  felt  indeed  that  this  terrible  Jehovah 
was  his  friend.  He  could  have  sung  a  jubilant 
hymn  with  that  consciousness. 

Kama  never  moved  from  beside  the  watchfire 
kindled  on  the  edge  of  the  cover.  He  had  a  sort 
of  perception  that  now  would  his  trust  in  the  white 
man's  God  be  estimated  by  his  fellow-countrymen, 
and  though  sorely  frightened  he  remained  without 
flinching  or  covering  his  head,  repeating  to  him- 
self in  a  low  tone  perpetually,  "  It  is  God  our 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  181 

Father — it  is  God  our  Father !"  as  if  the  words 
were  a  talisman. 

Jan  turned  stupid  eyes  on  him  occasionally,  for 
the  yellow  Hottentot  was  one  of  the  most  impass- 
able of  human  beings — stolidity  gave  him  com- 
posure. Like  an  ugly  idol,  he  sat  motionless  by 
the  same  lurid  watchfire  and  could  not  sleep,  sim- 
ply because  the  noise  was  too  loud,  not  at  all  from 
any  nervous  or  superstitious  emotion  at  sight  of 
the  grand  conflict  of  the  elements.  A\rhile  the  very 
oxen  quivered  and  their  hair  stiffened  with  terror, 
Jan  the  Hottentot  was  absolutely  immovable  in 
person  and  in  mind,  and  showed  not  the  least 
appearance  of  fear. 

The  Englishmen  on  the  hillock  viewed  the  mag- 
nificence of  the  storm  with  diverse  feelings — Mr. 
Enfield  as  a  matter  of  poetic  feeling,  as  a  sublime 
sensation  on  the  confines  between  grandeur  and 
terror.  Mr.  Owen  could  also  appreciate  its  sub- 
limity, and  rather  the  more  from  the  thought  of 
Him  "  who  maketh  a  way  for  the  lightning  of  the 
thunder;"  but  he  had  a  consciousness  of  rest 
through  all  the  elemental  turmoil — a  consciousness 
which  indeed  never  forsook  his  daily  life.  Mr. 
Enfield  remembered  various  grand  passages  in 
"  Paradise  Lost ;"  his  companion's  memory  dwelt 


182  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

upon  an  older  Book,  the  fountain  whence  the  blind 
poet  drew  his  sublitnest  imagery. 

"About  the  finest  storm  I  have  seen,"  observed 
the  sportsman,  with  a  tone  of  connoisseurship, 
"  and  without  doubt"  (a  tearing  clap  here  inter- 
rupted him  and  drowned  his  next  words)  "  who 
has  not  seen  lightning  in  Africa  knows  not  what 
it  is." 

At  one  moment  the  black  sky  would  be  veined 
all  across  with  dazzling,  interlaced  forkings  of  bine 
light,  quenched  instantly  by  the  utterest  darkness, 
but  only  to  flash  forth  again  as  if  the  air  were 
alive,  revealing  during  each  glaring  interval  the 
whole  bleached  plain  under  the  black  heavens  with 
a  brightness  surpassing  noonday. 

" ( It  is  the  glorious  God  that  maketh  the  thun- 
der/ "  Mr.  Owen  murmured.  " '  The  voice  of  the 
Lord  is  powerful ;  the  voice  of  the  Lord  is  full  of 
majesty.  The  voice  of  the  Lord  divideth  the 
flames  of  fire.  The  voice  of  the  Lord  shaketh  the 
wilderness  and  discovereth  the  thick  forests.' " 

They  had  it  all  before  them — that  twenty-ninth 
Psalm  reproduced  almost  literally,  as  David  had 
beheld  its  scenes  from  the  heights  of  Mount  Zion. 
And  now,  mingled  with  the  thunder  and  filling  all 
its  pauses,  came  a  rushing  sound  from  afar — a  sound 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  183 

as  of  a  sea  in  vast  cascades  plunging  from  the 
steeps  of  the  air. 

"  The  rain  is  coming,"  briefly  observed  Mr.  En- 
field,  wrapping  his  skin  cloak  more  closely  about 
him  as  they  rose  and  sought  shelter.  Shelter !  As 
if  the  clouds  swooped  down  bodily  through  the 
atmosphere,  pouring  all  their  contents  in  one 
drowning  torrent,  that  tropical  rain  came.  Imme- 
diately the  watch-fires  were  drenched  and  dead. 
The  quiescent  pool  rose  and  ran  over  abundantly 
into  the  bed  of  a  long-dry  stream;  the  thirsty  sand 
hissed  as  it  absorbed  the  flood  on  all  sides.  "  Oh, 
but  there  is  a  great  rain-maker  abroad  !"  said  the 
dripping  Caffres. 

As  suddenly  as  it  came  it  ceased,  after  about  an 
hour  of  steady  down-pour.  The  sky  was  emptied 
of  clouds — not  that  they  had  passed  away  to  other 
regions,  but  were  all  spilt  and  annihilated  here. 
The  moon  mirrored  herself  in  scores  of  pools  and 
reaches  of  stream  through  the  Karroo,  which  had 
been  parched  holes  and  furrows  when  she  rose  that 
evening.  The  rest  of  the  night  was  serene  and 
cool  to  coldness. 

"  Do  you  know,  sir,"  said  Gilbert  to  his  master, 
as  they  dried  themselves  by  the  resuscitated  watch- 
fire,  which  had  been  rekindled  with  great  diffi- 


184  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

culty,  "  the  CafFres  are,  some  of  them,  disposed 
to  lay  that  storm  at  the  door  of  the  slaughtered 
mamba  ?" 

"What — they  think  the  monster  was  one  of 
their  guardian  snakes,  do  they  ?  I  thought  their 
guardian  snakes  were  harmless  things." 

"  As  well  as  I  can  make  out,  they  fancy  this 
mamba  may  have  been  the  spirit  of  a  great  witch- 
doctor or  chief — they  haven't  settled  which,  sir." 

"  They  had,  singularly,  little  objection  to  eating 
him,  then,"  remarked  Mr.  Eufield.  "  Well,  they 
may  be  easy — he  has  wreaked  his  utmost  ven- 
geance." 

Mr.  Owen  read  over  the  twenty-ninth  Psalm 
before  lying  down  to  sleep. 

"  The  voice  of  the  Lord  is  upon  the  waters  ;  the 
God  of  glory  thundereth ;  the  Lord  is  upon  many 

waters The  Lord  sitteth  upon  the  flood ; 

the  Lord  sitteth  King  for  ever.  The  Lord  giveth 
strength  unto  his  people ;  the  Lord  will  bless  his 
people  with  peace."  And  this  the  reader  had 
proved. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

FLIGHT    AND    DESERTION. 

HE  next  day  was  cooler  than  any  they  had 
felt  for  the  season.  The  air  was  deliciously 
pure  and  clear.  Though  motionless  as  ever, 
it  had  not  the  scorching  stillness  of  drought. 
And  the  whole  plain  was  vocal  with  sounds  of 
streams,  filled  by  that  rapid  weight  of  rain  which 
had  suddenly  fallen  from  the  air,  and  which  was 
being  sucked  up  again  into  the  blue  ether  swiftly 
as  heat  could  bear  it  on  high,  to  reappear  as  white 
vapours  wrapped  round  the  table-headed  mountains, 
and  redesceud  in  other  storms.  Like  as  even  the 
wisest  king  describes  the  circuit  in  his  "Preacher:" 
"  All  the  rivers  run  into  the  sea,  yet  the  sea  is  not 
full;  unto  the  place  whence  the  rivers  come, 
thither  they  return  again." 

Now  had  the  parched  oxen  of  the  previous  day 
enough  water  and  to  spare.  The  sandy  hollows  of 
the  Karroo  were  changed  into  pools,  the  dry  water- 
courses into  rushing  torrents.  Ten  thousand  burly 

185 


186  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

bulbous  roots,  buried  in  the  loose  soil,  took  the 
opportunity  to  push  up  the  tender  green  shoots 
they  had  so  long  held  in  reserve.  Three  days 
hence  and  the  ground  would  be  covered  with  vege- 
tation ;  a  few  weeks  hence  and  it  would  be  a  very 
carpet  of  brilliant  blossom. 

Nay,  that  very  evening,  as  our  travellers  were 
taking  their  leave  of  the  desert  plain,  Mr.  En- 
field  looked  back  and  beheld  the  sterile  whitish 
expanse  already  tinted  with  a  delicate  green  from 
innumerable  tips  of  seed-leaves  piercing  the  easy 
sand,  sucking  up  the  welcome  moisture.  He 
showed  it  to  the  others. 

"  What  a  country  of  contrasts  it  is !"  observed 
Mr.  Owen ;  "  barrenness  and  verdure  succeed  each 
other  with  a  rapidity  unknown  to  our  cautious  cli- 
mates. But  I  have  been  very  much  interested  in 
noticing,  since  I  came  here,  the  perfect  adaptation 
of  vegetable  and  animal  life  to  the  nature  of  the 
land  and  the  air.  You  have  had  still  more  oppor- 
tunities of  noticing  it,  Enfield." 

"  Well,  you  know  I  did  not  come  as  a  scientific 
traveller,"  replied  the  gentleman  addressed ;  "  I 
came  merely  for  sport,  and  so  did  not  take  extra 
trouble  to  investigate  phenomena — " 

The  fact  was,  that  the  idea  had  never  occurred  to 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  187 

liini  before ;  and  if  for  a  moment  the  verse  dwelt 
in  Mr.  Owen's  memory  wherein  David  makes 
every  Christian  a  naturalist,  he  did  not  give  it 
utterance :  "  The  works  of  the  Lord  are  great, 
sought  out  of  all  them  that  have  pleasure  therein." 
Many  a  time  could  he  add  heartily  and  with  refer- 
ence to  higher  works,  "  Thou,  Lord,  hast  made  me 
glad  through  thy  works ;  I  will  triumph  in  the 
works  of  thy  hand.  O  Lord,  how  great  are  thy 
works !  and  thy  thoughts  are  very  deep." 

He  walked  away  a  yard's  distance  to  a  plant 
that  grew  in  the  sand — a  fleshy  mesembryanthe- 
mum.  "  The  very  structure  of  this  green  thing 
is  a  wonder  of  adaptation  to  circumstances,"  he 
said.  "  Look  at  the  thick,  fleshy  leaves,  formed  to 
retain  moisture  when  any  other  tissue  would  be 
dried  up.  See  the  abundant  sap.  Above  all,  no- 
tice this  seed-vessel :  yesterday  it  was  tightly  shut 
on  the  seeds  while  the  soil  was  hot  and  dry,  and 
the  dropping  of  a  seed  would  have  been  its  loss. 
We  know  that  the  ordinary  effect  of  scorching  sun 
and  drought  upon  a  plant  is  to  contract  and  burst 
its  seed-vessel,  but  the  law  is  suspended  or  altered 
here ;  and  the  hotter  the  air  the  firmer  does  the 
mesembryanthemum  hold  its  seed  until  rain  falls, 
and  then  the  capsule  opens  and  sheds  the  seed  on 


188  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

ground  prepared  by  moisture.  There  is  a  marvel 
of  design,  Enfield !" 

That  gentleman  examined  the  plant  attentively 
and  acquiesced.  "The  stapelia  is  another  of  these 
succulent  stems,"  he  observed. 

"  And  see" — Mr.  Owen  stirred  the  sand  with 
his  foot — "I  suppose  this  whole  plain  is  underlaid 
with  reservoirs  of  vegetable  moisture  in  the  shape 
of  bulbous  and  tuberous  roots.  Vegetation  would 
die  but  for  that  provision ;  no  fibrous  roots  could 
endure  the  baking  they  would  get  from  the  sun." 

"Various  sorts  of  antelopes  have  an  instinct 
about  that,"  remarked  Mr.  Enfield,  laying  down 
the  specimen  of  mesembryanthemum  and  stepping 
on  to  rejoin  the  march.  "There's  the  gemsbok 
and  the  steinbok  and  the  duiker,  all  furnished 
with  sharp-pointed  hoofs  expressly  formed,  as  it 
were,  for  digging  up  the  aforesaid  tubers  and 
bulbs;  and  well  they  know  where  to  find  these 
watery  roots  in  time  of  drought.  I've  been  over 
vast  arid  plains  of  the  interior,  where  for  days 
and  days  we  have  not  seen  a  pool  or  a  stream,  yet 
vast  herds  of  antelopes  subsisted,  quenching  their 
thirst  from  this  source  alone.  The  nearest  water 
may  be  forty  miles  distant  from  a  troop  of  hun- 
dreds of  gemsbok." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  189 

"  Paley  need  scarcely  have  imagined  his  cele- 
brated argument  of  the  watch  found  in  a  field,  if 
he  had  known  the  wonders  of  South  African  nat- 
ural history,"  said  Philip  Owen. 

"  AVait  till  you  wander  into  the  Great  Kalahari 
desert,"  said  Mr.  Enfield;  "there  you  will  see  your 
principle  of  adaptation  carried  out  fully — far  better 
than  on  this  comparatively  limited  strip  of  Karroo 
country.  I  remember  a  small  plant  which  grows 
there — a  plant  with  linear  leaves  and  stem  about 
the  thickness  of  a  crow-quill :  you  would  expect  a 
little  fibrous  root  as  large  perhaps  as  that  attached 
to  a  tuft  of  groundsel,  but  if  you  dig  a  foot  be- 
neath the  sand  you  come  to  a  vastly  dispropor- 
tioried  root,  as  big  as  a  child's  head;  this  is  a 
complete  mass  of  cellular  tissue  filled  with  juice, 
deliciously  cool,  though  the  surface  of  the  soil  be 
broiling.  There's  also  a  small  scarlet-coloured 
cucumber,  which  on  the  fertile  lands  of  the  colony 
farms  has  a  root  like  any  cucumber,  but  bears  a 
tuber  in  the  Kalahari  desert  and  no  where  else,  as 
if  making  an  effort  against  the  scorching  dryness 
about  it." 

"  You  have  not  been  so  unobservant  as  you  im- 
agined, Enfield,"  said  his  friend. 

"Oh;  I  never  noticed  these  things  in  the  con  nee- 


190  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

tion  you  mean,"  replied  the  other;  "but  that's  the 
habit  of  your  mind,  Owen." 

"  It  used  not  to  be/'  he  answered ;  "  it  is  a  part 
of  the  great  change  that  came  upon  me  at  the  be- 
ginning of  months,  the  first  day  of  my  new  years." 

"  Why,  you  were  always  given  to  investigating 
nature  as  a  student." 

"  Yes,  and  then  I  called  the  prime  mover  '  Na- 
ture ;'  and,  contemplated  with  respect  to  the  affairs 
of  men,  I  called  him  'Providence.'  Anything 
sooner  than  pronounce  the  name  of  Him  with 
whom  I  was  at  enmity  by  wicked  works — anything 
sooner  than  come  in  contact  with  his  divine  per- 
sonality. I  talked  of  Nature's  work  and  Nature's 
beauties,  of  what  Nature  had  done  and  could  do — 
deifying  a  classical  abstraction ;  but  since  my  Cre- 
ator has  become  my  Father,  a  tenderer  and  deeper 
interest  attaches  to  all  the  works  of  his  hands; 
and  I  delight  in  seeing  that  here  in  the  wilds  of 
Africa  he  is  as  close  to  me,  his  perpetual  care  as 
much  around  me,  as  in  the  civilized  homes  of 
England." 

Mr.  Enfield  never  felt  quite  comfortable  when 
his  friend's  conversation  became  so  pointedly  re- 
ligious as  this  ;  and  though  he  might  be  certain 
that  to  this  it  would  come  round  surely,  Mr.  Owen 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  191 

did  not  want  (to  use  the  emphatic  scr.ptural  ex- 
pression) "to  cast  pearls  before  swine,"  in  thus 
bringing  in  his  religion  into  every  conversation ; 
but  it  was  done  without  an  effort — it  was  the  very 
breathing  of  his  soul.  Therefore  it  had  effect  on 
the  hard-trodden  nature  of  his  old  friend,  over 
whose  conscience  the  world  had  been  marching  for 
many  a  day,  till  the  good  seed  had  scarce  a  chance 
of  finding  lodgment  in  any  fertilizing  crevice. 

Nightfall  had  come,  yet  still  Mr.  Enfield  pushed 
on  his  cavalcade.  He  wanted  to  reach  a  certain 
farmstead,  which  he  calculated  to  be  only  two 
hours  in  advance,  at  sundown.  So  the  oxen  were 
disappointed  of  their  customary  outspanning  in 
the  twilight,  and  felt  the  Hottentot  Jan's  long 
whip  resounding  over  their  backs,  to  the  remotest 
fourteenth  of  the  yoked  pairs,  whenever  they  took 
on  themselves  to  hesitate  at  the  protracted  journey. 
Mr.  Enfield  mounted  on  Mynheer,  and  went  for- 
ward as  a  scout  through  the  stony  valley,  to  find 
the  farm  indeed  as  usual,  barns  and  cattle-folds 
and  dwellings,  but  no  trace  of  inhabitants.  Doors 
stood  open ;  all  furniture  that  was  not  fixture  was 
removed ;  there  was  every  trace  of  a  rapid  flight. 

Among  the  deserted  buildings  they  encamped 
for  that  night,  greatly  to  the  comfort  of  Mrs.  Ma- 


192  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

son,  whom  the  noinad  gipsy  life  did  not  at  all  suit. 
There  was  a  feeling  of  security  in  a  veritable  roof 
over  her  head  which  never  could  be  conveyed  by 
the  tilt  of  a  wagon ;  so  thought  the  English-born 
woman.  The  attendant  Caffres  lit  a  large  fire  in 
the  midst  of  the  empty  cattle-fold,  and  squatted 
round  it  in  their  own  savage  fashion,  as  usual  de- 
vouring their  allowance  of  dried  beef.  They  might 
have  had  shelter  enough  in  the  barns  of  the  fled 
farmer,  but  the  circle  round  the  open-air  fire  had 
superior  attractions  to  "the  white  man's  kraal"  for 
these  children  of  the  wilderness. 

The  feasting  and  the  chattering  were  almost 
over,  and  likewise  the  nightly  grumbling  at  the 
insufficiency  of  their  allowance,  for  though  much 
more  was  given  to  each  of  them  than  would  have 
satisfied  a  white  man,  the  Caffres  seemed  as  raven- 
ous when  they  had  finished  as  when  they  had  be- 
gun, and  were  in  a  state  of  chronic  disaffection  on 
W\e  subject.  The  brute  beasts  never  eat  them- 
selves to  repletion,  but  these  brute  men  accounted 
it  their  highest  delight.  Still  greedier  eyes  had 
watched  them,  and  drawn  near  as  he  saw  the  last 
morsel  in  danger  of  disappearing — a  feeble  old  man 
left  behind  by  the  hasty  flight  of  the  farmer  and 
his  family,  and  who  had  hidden  among  the  out- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  193 

houses  until  his  dread  of  the  new-comers  was  con- 
quered by  his  desire  of  food. 

Gilbert  brought  him  a  portion,  and  those  who 
had  already  eaten  watched  every  mouthful  as  if 
they  grudged  it.  The  old  Caffre  was  used  to  such 
regards,  and  heeded  not,  but  devoured  with  a  tan- 
talizing enjoyment. 

"  Has  my  father  heard  any  news,"  inquired  Gil- 
bert, "  by  reason  of  which  his  masters,  the  white 
men,  fled  ?" 

"  Makomo  and  his  warriors  coming,"  with  an 
expressive  gesture  toward  the  north  and  west, 
was  all  that  could  for  a  time  be  wrung  from  him. 
But  by  and  by,  when  he  had  done  eating,  further 
intelligence  of  an  alarming  character  was  elicited. 
White  men's  houses  all  over  the  country  were  to  be 
burned  ;  the  stations  of  the  missionaries  were  to  be 
utterly  destroyed  :  some  had  already  suffered  that 
fate. 

"  We  needn't  alarm  the  lady,"  said  Mr.  Enfield, 
when  he  heard  it,  "but  xeep  our  information  to 
ourselves,  and  just  push  on  ahead  as  quickly  as  the 
oxen  can  go." 

This  was  very  slow,  as  may  be  imagined,  espe- 
cially over  a  roadless  land.  Mr.  Enfield  looked 
almost  angrily  at  the  cumbrous  wagon  and  uu- 

13 


194  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

wieldy  oxen,  which  would  travel  about  two  miles 
and  a  half  in  every  hour.  He  had  a  very  unquiet 
night.  He  did  not  know  in  what  direction  the 
enemy  might  be  coming  or  how  near  they  might 
be.  The  whole  country  seemed  to  have  risen  in 
revolt,  according  to  the  old  Caff  re,  and  his  narra- 
tive bore  every  appearance  of  truth. 

Gilbert,  in  possession  of  the  same  disturbing 
news,  sat  tranquilly  reading  his  Testament  by  the 
firelight  in  the  broad  kitchen  of  the  farm-house. 
Perhaps  a  little  nettled  by  his  servant's  composure, 
the  master  at  last  called  out  in  one  of  his  numei- 
ous  peregrinations  to  and  fro  : 

"  I  cannot  imagine  what  you  find  to  interest  you 
so  much.  You  have  not  turned  a  page  this  half 
hour!" 

"  Because,  sir,  this  page  contains  plenty,"  re- 
turned Gilbert.  "I  never  knew  how  much  till 
Mr.  Owen  talked  to  me,  sir,  and  showed  me  how 
all  the  Epistles  belong  to  me." 

"  Belong  to  you  ?"  reiterated  his  master. 

"  Yes,  sir,  they  were  all  written  to  saved  people ; 
and  it  puts  a  new  light  on  them,  sir,  to  think 
they're  my  very  own,  and  that  I've  a  right  to  be 
as  glad  as  the  apostles  were !" 

"  I  suppose  you'll  go  with  Mr.  Owen  into  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  195 

interior  ?"  said  his  master,  willing  to  turn  the  sub- 
ject. Gilbert  paused  : 

"  I'm  scarce  worthy,  sir,  to  think  of  anything  so 
honourable  as  being  a  sort  of  missionary ;  though 
indeed  it's  a  thought  of  my  own,  sir,  that  as  soon 
as  a  man  feels  his  own  soul  saved  he  ought  to  set 
about  trying  to  persuade  other  people  to  the  same 
happiness.  My  heart  goes  out  to  the  work,  sir ; 
it's  the  most  blessed  on  earth !" 

"  I  heard  you  preaching  to  that  old  withered 
Caffre  to-night.  Tough  soil  that,  I  fancy.  I'd  as 
soon  try  to  teach  one  of  the  oxen,  to  judge  by  ap- 
pearances." 

"  And  it's  made  a  great  deal  worse  by  the  con- 
duct of  the  whites,  sir.  That  poor  man — with  a 
soul,  sir !  a  soul  that  can  be  lost  for  ever,  like 
yours  or  mine,  sir ! — never  had  heard  the  name  of 
the  Lord  except  in  an  oath,  and  he  had  them  glib 
enough  on  his  tongue.  In  fact,  a  good  deal  of  the 
English  he  knows  is  made  up  of  swearers'  words. 
God  pardon  me,  but  for  many  a  day  I  pronounced 
the  same  myself!" 

"  James" — Mr.  Enfield  took  a  turn  in  the  room 
before  he  spoke — "if  the  Almighty  intended  that 
these  Caffres  should  be  Protestants,  would  he  not 
have  sent  them  the  religion  as  he  did  to  us  ?  He 


196  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

could  make  them  believe  without  the  intervention 
of  missionaries." 

"But  the  Lord  always  uses  men's  means,  sir. 
He  sent  the  apostles  to  preach  about  among  the 
people  when  he  could  as  well  have  sent  angels ; 
and  I  believe,  sir,  that  it's  the  fault  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  that  his  name  hasn't  long  ago  been 
preached  in  every  corner  of  the  earth.  Sure,  didn't 
he  leave  us  his  last  commands,  sir  ? — '  Go  ye  into  all 
the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.' 
It's  for  us  to  say  whether  we'll  obey  or  not,  sir." 

Reader,  were  these  words  of  our  Redeemer 
spoken  to  you  and  to  me?  Then  are  we  trying 
to  fulfil  them  ?  Do  we  preach  the  glorious  gospel 
which  has  delivered  us  and  filled  our  souls  with 
God's  joy,  by  our  lives  if  not  by  our  lips  ?  "  Every 
creature"  embraces  not  only  the  heathen  abroad, 
but  the  heathen  at  home — all  who  among  our  de- 
pendants, our  acquaintances,  our  friends,  know  not 
Jesus  to  be  their  Saviour.  These  are  as  surely 
alienated  from  God  as  the  poor  godless  Caffre  in 
his  kraal,  cowering  before  the  witch-doctor  and 
aghast  to  think  of  the  spirits  of  his  ancestors.  But 
it  is  hard  to  realize  that  the  amiable  and  the  agree- 
able want  the  gospel  as  much  as  the  savage !  If 
we  could  bring  home  to  ourselves  that  an  in- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  197 

dividual  responsibility  rests  upon  us  all  and  each 
to  spread  the  knowledge  of  the  great  truth  of  re- 
demption which  God  has  entrusted  to  our  charge, 
then  would  the  Christian  man  more  often  speak  of 
the  subject  nearest  -Ms  heart  to  the  other  man  with 
whom  he  has  secular  business ;  then  would  the 
Christian  woman,  impressed  by  the  solemn  yet 
gladdening  truth,  more  often  be  a  witness  against 
the  frivolous  vanities  of  the  world.  Each  saved 
soul  would  regard  himself  as  the  depository  of  a 
sacred  trust  —  a  commission  given  him  by  his 
Saviour ;  and  Avho  can  tell  what  largeness  of  bless- 
ing might  not  result  ? 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  a  mission- 
ary spirit  must  belong  to  and  be  exercised  by  only 
those  Christian  ministers  who  go  to  the  heathen. 
The  very  last  command  in  the  Bible  teaches  other- 
wise :  "  The  Spirit  and  the  Bride  say,  Come,  and 
let  him  that  heareth,  say,  Come  I"  If  we  have  heard, 
and  believed,  this  command  lies  upon  us  wherever 
we  live  and  whatever  is  our  daily  walk  through 
the  world. 

James  Gilbert  had  been  learning  it ;  therefore  he 
resolved  to  join  Mr.  Owen  in  his  evangelizing  tour, 
foregoing  the  pleasures  of  home,  for  he  also  had  a 
nest  in  old  England,  where  hearts  loved  him  and 


198  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

longed  for  him,  and  he  had  earned  a  considerable 
sum  while  with  Mr.  En  field. 

"  You  might  live  comfortably  at  home,  James," 
said  his  master;  "the  object  of  your  emigration 
has  been  accomplished  ;  'why,  then,  expatriate  your- 
self any  longer  ?" 

"  Sir,  I  feel  that  it  is  right  to  do.  I  feel  that  it 
is  what  my  Lord  would  have  me  do." 

And  so,  with  certain  drawings  across  the  sea  to 
dear  ones  in  England,  he  remained  steadfast  in  his 
purpose  of  turning  afresh  into  the  wilderness.  And 
Mr.  Enfield  could  not  understand  him — assigned 
him  various  worldly  motives  in  his  own  mind — for 
the  natural  man  comprehendeth  not  the  doings  of 
the  spiritual  man. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

MR.    VAN    SMIT. 

HE  next  farm  to  which  our  travellers  came 
after  leaving  this  deserted  steading  was 
held  by  a  Boer,  or  Dutch  agriculturist. 
Wide  domains  were  covered  with  flocks 
and  herds,  as  if  there  was  no  talk  of  war  in  all  the 
laud.  After  an  hour  through  pastures,  the  wagon 
drew  nigh  to  the  houses  of  the  Boer  and  his  ser- 
vants, whence  rushed  forth  a  score  of  huge  dogs  at 
the  strangers,  barking  with  the  utmost  fury.  After 
them  came  the  farmer  himself,  with  a  long  pipe  in 
one  hand,  a  large  ox-whip  in  the  other,  which  he 
laid  about  him  lustily  on  the  savage  dogs,  much  to 
the  relief  of  the  poor  lady  in  the  wagon,  who 
almost  expected  to  see  her  husband  torn  piecemeal, 
as  he  was  afoot. 

A  sturdy,  broad-shouldered  man,  with  rather  a 
heavy  countenance  to  match  his  heavy  build,  he 
stood  regarding  the  wagon  and  its  long  train  of 
pack-oxen  and  attendant  Caffres  and  Hottentots 

199 


200  HIE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

with  a  stolid  gaze  from  under  his  broad-brimmed 
hat, 

"  My  friend,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  who  rode  in 
front,  "can  we  outspan  here  for  the  night?  You 
have  a  fine  fountain/'  pointing  his  whip  toward 
the  stream  whence  Mynheer  had  taken  a  drink  a 
few  minutes  previously,  "and  our  oxen  require 
plenty  of  water." 

The  obese  Boer  had  put  back  his  pipe  into  his 
lips  and  was  puffing  forth  the  clouds  wherein  he 
delighted.  He  withdrew  it  again  to  utter,  in  his 
native  Dutch,  inherited  from  whatever  remote  an- 
cestor had  settled  first  in  the  colony :  "  Wle  zyn  u, 
alo  ik  vraag  mag  f  Who  are  you,  if  I  may  ask  ? 

"Inhospitable  fellow!"  thought  Mr.  Enfield, 
and  looked  the  sentiment  also.  But  before  he 
could  explain  Mr.  Owen  stepped  forward. 

"You  remember  me,  going  up  country  a  year 
ago,  Mr.  Van  Smit?" 

The  Boer  again  removed  his  pipe,  to  say,  after  a 
little  consideration,  "I  do.  A  missionary.  You 
are  welcome."  He  turned  back  into  his  house 
without  more  words,  for  by  nature  and  by  practice 
he  was  taciturn. 

"  We  may  outspan,"  said  Mr.  Owen,  "  though 
the  welcome  is  not  very  cordial." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  201 

"A  churl!"  exclaimed  the  sportsman.  "But 
truly  the  husk  of  these  fellow.s  is  ofton  the 
roughest." 

And  so  he  had  reason  to  say  by  and  by,  when 
the  carcase  of  a  slaughtered  sheep  was  brought  to 
the  wagon  by  Van  Smit  the  younger,  as  a  contri- 
bution to  the  food  of  the  caravan.  Eyes  glittered 
and  teeth  shone  among  the  natives  at  the  sight  of 
flesh. 

"  What  carnivorous  animals  they  are !"  said  Mr. 
Enfield. 

At  the  same  time  came  an  invitation  from  the 
Boer's  family  to  join  them  at  their  evening  meal. 
Mrs.  Mason  was  glad  of  the  chance  of  seeing  other 
white  women,  and  trusted  to  her  baby  to  make  an 
effectual  inroad  on  their  sympathies,  as  babies 
always  succeed  in  doing.  The  stout  wife  and  two 
stout  daughters  had  been  preparing  a  meal  worthy 
of  guests,  so  far  as  their  border-cookery  could  do 
so,  but  the  items  were  limited.  Mutton,  broiled, 
roast  and  boiled,  was  the  sole  viand;  coffee  and 
corn-brandy  the  sole  drinks;  tobacco  for  dessert, 
served  up  in  pipes. 

Baby  fully  answered  his  mother's  expectations. 
His  infantine  crowing  and  playing  were  as  com- 
prehensible to  these  dull  Dutchwomen  as  the 


202  THE  FC.JNTAIN  KLOOF. 

alphabet  of  a  universal  tongue.  They  knew  little 
English,  so  that  Mrs.  Mason's  verbal  communica- 
tion had  not  much  effect,  which,  as  it  referred  to 
the  cutting  of  teeth,  growing  of  hair  and  other 
matters  interesting  chiefly  to  mothers,  was  perhaps 
no  great  loss. 

"  You  have  got  all  the  large  tailed-sheep  here," 
observed  Mr.  Enfield  to  the  Boer,  when  he  resumed 
the  unfailing  long  pipe. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  was  the  reply.  "  Six  thousand  acres 
of  pasturage,  six  kraals  of  sheep."  And  he  puffed 
away  tranquilly. 

"  Are  you  not  afraid  of  Makomo  ?  He  is  burn- 
ing the  mission  stations  to  the  north  and  west ;  we 
have  fled  from  him.  He  must  be  here  soon." 

Mr.  Van  Smit  smiled  slowly  an  incredulous 
smile. 

"  I  am  not  afraid,"  was  his  brief  declaration. 
Then,  turning  himself  toward  Mr.  Owen,  he  asked, 
"  Did  I  not  tell  you  you  might  as  well  teach  the 
baboons  on  the  rocks  as  teach  the  blacks?" 

"  No,  my  friend,"  replied  the  missionary,  "  it  is 
not  so;  God  blesses  his  own  word  as  well  to  the 
heart  of  the  Hottentot  or  the  Caffre  as  to  the  heart 
of  the  white  man." 

"  I  know  nothing  about  it/'  observed  Mr.  Van 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  203 

Smit,  which  was  very  true.  "  I  only  know  that 
they  are  rocks — beasts,  impossible  to  teach  !" 

"Have  you  ever  tried?"  inquired  Mr.  Owen, 
gently. 

"  Me  ?"  with  a  glance  of  dull  surprise.  "  No. 
I  had  my  six  kraals  of  sheep  to  care  for.  As  well 
try  to  train  a  sheep,"  he  reiterated. 

"  He  won't  be  easily  converted  to  your  views  of 
missions,"  remarked  Charles  Enfield,  with  a  smile. 

"  I  don't  want  it,"  replied  Mr.  Owen,  "  but  I 
must  preach  the  gospel  to  him  all  the  same,  and 
perhaps  God  would  bless  it."  They  spoke  in  Eng- 
lish, the  previous  and  following  colloquies  were  in 
such  Dutch  as  the  missionary  had  at  command. 

"  I  preached  to  him  last  year,  when  going  up  the 
country,  and  from  being  most  hostile  to  my  views 
he  became  quite  softened,"  continued  Mr.  Owen. 
"  He  complained  of  what  I  know  to  be  true,  that 
many  missionaries  pass  by  the  white  colonists  as 
if  they  had  no  souls,  and  confine  their  labours 
wholly  to  the  natives.  This  has  induced  a  prej- 
udice in  many  minds,  and  truly  seems  to  me  most 
unadvisable,  for  nothing  would  tell  more  on  the 
outlying  masses  of  heathenism  than  the  sight  of 
consistent  Christian  white  men  dealing  justly  and 
kindly  by  them." 


204  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  I  perfectly  agree  with  you,"  said  Mr.  Enfiekl ; 
*'  they  would  indeed  be  powerful  missionaries  of 
order  and  civilization." 

"  They  might  be  that,  dear  friend,  and  be  no 
whit  nearer  saving  souls,"  said  Mr.  Owen.  "  Our 
object  is  higher  than  either  civilization  or  morality, 
though  it  embodies  both,  in  bringing  men  to  call 
Jesus  Lord,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Every  good  fruit  will  grow  from  that  root." 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Mason  had  been  holding  forth, 
in  his  very  imperfect  Dutch,  to  the  Boer,  who, 
whether  he  understood  or  whether  he  understood 
not,  made  no  sign  or  sound ;  but  his  small,  steady 
eyes  looked  straight  at  the  minister's  face  through 
his  clouds  of  smoke  without  winking. 

"  My  friend,"  said  Mr.  Owen,  "  have  you  kept 
the  book  that  I  gave  you  last  year?" 

For  answer,  Mr.  Van  Smit  nodded  to  one  of 
his  stout  daughters,  who  produced  a  sheepskin 
parcel  from  one  corner  of  the  apartment ;  opened, 
it  revealed  a  brown  Testament  in  the  Dutch 
language. 

The  donor  turned  over  the  leaves  and  was  glad 
to  see  abundance  of  finger-marks  tearing  witness 
to  much  perusal. 

"  You  won't  take  it  away,  sir  ?"  said  the  daugh- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  205 

ter,  in  her  smattering  of  English — she  had  imagined 
it  might  be  a  loan. 

"No,  indeed/'  said  Mr.  Owen;  "it  contains 
eternal  life  for  you,  if  you  lay  it  to  heart  and  ask 
God's  blessing  on  the  reading  of  it.  I  wish  I  had 
an  entire  Bible  to  leave  with  you." 

The  daughter  was  surprised  to  hear  that  this 
book  was  not  an  entire  Bible.  Brought  up  on  the 
outskirts  of  civilization,  miles  away  from  even  any 
neighbours,  she  and  her  sister  and  brother  were  as 
ignorant  of  the  Christian  religion  as  their  own 
cattle.  They  never  had  seen  anything  like  public 
worship.  Yet  the  father  and  mother  had  professed 
to  be  members  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  and 
allowed  their  children  to  grow  up  like  the  beasts 
that  perish. 

Mr.  Owen  preached  the  "good  news  of  God," 
through  Jesus  Christ  the  Redeemer  of  the  world, 
very  plainly  and  earnestly  to  this  family  circle  be- 
fore they  separated.  Then,  inviting  all  to  be  pres- 
ent at  evening  worship,  he  adjourned  to  the  door- 
step and  summoned  all  the  Caffres  in  Mr.  Enfield's 
employ  by  the  sounding  of  the  usual  horn. 

The  two  Van  Smits  sat  motionless,  even  during 
the  prayer,  but  Mr.  Owen  was  satisfied  to  see  their 
deep  attention.  A  fringe  of  brown  farm-servants 


206  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

outside  the  worshippers  were  highly  amused  to  see 
them  assume  such  an  unusual  posture  as  kneeling ; 
some  laughed  aloud  at  the  novelty.  But  the  mas- 
ter's slow,  steadfast  eye  travelled  over  the  lines  of 
the  offenders,  and  they  were  silent  thenceforth,  with 
the  fear  of  the  ox-whip  in  their  ears,  or  only  gig- 
gled in  secret,  their  faces  on  the  ground. 

"One  objection  I  have,"  said  Van  Smit  the 
elder,  afterward  :  "your  missions  will  kill  us  Boers 
off  the  land ;  make  the  blacks  equal  to  the  whites, 
and  tell  them  they  are  to  have  heaven  all  the  same ! 
No,  no ;  teach  them  that  they  are  equal  unto  us — 
equal  unto  us  !  It  is  dangerous — dangerous !" 

This  unusually  long  speech  was  accompanied 
with  much  and  emphatic  shaking  of  his  head  ;  the 
subject  was  one  that  touched  his  interests  closely. 

"The  British  government  have  ruined  us  enough 
already,"  observed  his  son,  "by  taking  away  our 
slaves.  We  shall  have  to  go  to  the  Vaal  River  free 
state — it  is  the  only  refuge  for  Boers — there  we  can 
have  our  '  black  property'  in  peace." 

"I've  often  thought  of  it,"  said  his  father. 
"  Move  out  of  this  we  must,  for  the  settlers  are 
closing  in  on  the  skirts  of  our  lands." 

"And  the  savages  are  rising  before  you,"  said 
Mr.  Enfield.  "My  good  sir,  your  supineness 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  207 

amazes  me ;  while  here  is  our  party  flying  from 
Makomo  and  his  hordes  you  sit  in  peace  and  com- 
posure— " 

A  stir  outside  the  dwelling  arrested  all  attention. 

"  A  messenger  from  the  chief,  Likatlo !"  was 
shouted  in  the  Caffre  tongue,  and  Mr.  Mason  hur- 
ried out,  followed  by  the  others. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE    BOER    VROUWS. 

HIS  was  the  message  which  the  Caffre  on 
the  swift  pack-ox  had  to  deliver  from  Li- 
katlo :  "  The  chief  made  me  fly,  as  the 
ostrich  flew  over  the  desert  sands,  so  I 
halted  not  till  I  came  to  the  end  of  the  white 
man's  spoor."  The  cunning  little  black  eyes  of  the 
savage  peered  about  to  see  whether  this  poetical 
statement  of  speed  would  be  believed.  "  Likatlo, 
the  chief,  sends  this  word  to  his  friend  Mason,  the 
good  teacher :  Makomo  has  com  and  burned  the 
mission-houses,  and  Likatlo's  heart  is  sad." 

"  Which  I  take  the  liberty  of  disbelieving,"  re- 
marked Mr.  Enfield ;  "  they  are  all  deceitful  to  the 
core." 

The  native,  not  comprehending  the  commentary, 
went  on :  "  Likatlo  sayeth  that  Mason  and  Owen 
have  all  the  confidence  of  his  heart ;  Likatlo  wants 
them  back  again.  But  now  they  must  fly :  Ma- 
komo and  Pato  are  on  their  spoor — a  day's  journey 
off." 

208 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  209 

Mr.  Enfield  uttered  a  prolonged  whistle.  "  Our 
outspanning  to-night  must  be  short,"  he  observed. 
"And  the  moon  is  in  her  last  quarter;  not  much 
help  for  a  night  journey.  I  say,  Gilbert,  ask  the 
'  foreloupers'  whether  the  oxen  can  travel  in  two 
hours." 

But  this  was  declared  impossible  by  a  great 
chattering  of  all  the  Caffres  concerned  about  the 
cattle.  An  hour  after  midnight  was  then  selected 
as  the  time  for  arousing  and  getting  under  weigh. 
Meanwhile,  Van  Smit,  thoroughly  awakened  from 
his  phlegmatic  indifference,  endeavoured  to  cross- 
question  the  native  messenger.  He  began  with  the 
stereotyped  form  of  inquiry,  adopted  indeed  by  all 
Caffres  on  meeting  each  other,  for  these  barbarians, 
as  well  as  the  refined  Athenians  of  old,  love  "to 
spend  their  time  in  nothing  else  but  either  to  hear 
or  to  tell  of  some  new  thing."  It  is  the  same  all 
the  world  over.  And  in  the  midst  of  a  Caffrarian 
desert,  as  between  two  loungers  in  Hyde  Park,  is 
continually  exchanged  the  query,  "What's  the 
news  ?" 

"  There  is  no  news,"  replied  the  native,  in  the 
usual  reply.  "There  is  no  news;  I  heard  some 
lies  only." 

"  Well,  tell  us  the  lies,"  said  young  Vac  Smit. 

14 


210  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Gradually  the  details  of  the  intelligence  with  which 
he  had  come  freighted  were  drawn  from  him.  Be- 
yond a  doubt,  the  settlement  of  Tabor  had  been 
utterly  destroyed.  The  Boers  looked  at  each  other. 
To  attempt  the  driving  of  their  vast  flocks  into  the 
colony  was  futile.  If  they  left  their  farm,  they  left 
patriarchal  plenty  and  power  behind  them,  to  re- 
enter  civilized  life  penniless  and  friendless.  All 
their  wealth  was  in  these  herds  and  sheep.  It  was 
a  pitiable  dilemma  for  the  slow-thoughted  Dutch- 
men. 

"I  will  ask  Owen,  Mynheer  Owen,"  observed 
Van  Smit  the  elder,  after  he  had  smoked  a  long 
pipe  about  it — "  the  missionary  who  preached  to 
us  last  year." 

"A  missionary!"  said  the  son,  contemptuously; 
"  what  should  he  know  ?'' 

"  He  is  good  and  true,"  returned  Mr.  Van  Smit, 
raising  his  portly  person ;  "  he  preaches  what  he 
feels  in  his  soul,  and  what  you  and  I  had  bet- 
ter attend  to,  also,  if  we  want  to  be  all  right, 
Hendrik." 

The  young  man  gazed  at  his  father  in  some  sur- 
prise, for  he  had  never  before  heard  from  him 
words  so  serious.  And  he  did  not  move  till  the 
elder  man  had  left  the  room ;  then  he  went  to  look 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  211 

up  his  ammunition  in  the  crib  he  called  his 
chamber. 

"  Hendrik  !"  called  the  lady  vrouw,  his  mother, 
from  her  large  chair  in  the  sitting-room,  where  she 
sate  helpless.  "Hendrik!  what  is  your  father 
going  to  do  ?  He  ought  to  consult  me,  so  indeed 
he  ought,  but  he  thinks  of  any  one  before  his  wife," 
she  added,  querulously.  "  Is  the  wagon  to  be  got 
out,  and  am  I  and  your  sisters  to  go  back  into  the 
colony?" 

He  made  her  some  rough  answer,  for  he  never 
had  been  trained  to  good  feeling  or  obedience,  and 
the  idea  of  the  three  helpless  women,  instead  of 
awaking  the  slumbering  chivalry  of  protection  in 
his  mind,  rather  grated  on  him,  and  was  felt  to  be 
a  considerable  annoyance.  This  was  not  lessened 
when  he  heard  them  crying  presently,  and  after 
that  solacing  themselves  with  cups  of  the  strongest 
coffee,  a  gentle  whimpering  going  on  all  the  time. 
As  to  taking  any  steps  toward  aiding  in  the  neces- 
sary arrangements  for  flight,  these  three  Boer 
women,  accustomed  to  the  utmost  indolence  and  a 
life  of  domestic  routine,  were  totally  unequal  to  the 
endeavour,  and  bewildered  by  any  unusual  conjunc- 
ture of  circumstances. 

Mr.  Owen,  coming  back  with   the  Van  Smit 


212  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

senior,  found  them  thus,  and  thinking  a  woman 
would  best  do  to  deal  with  women,  he  spoke  of  it 
to  Mrs.  Mason,  who  had  by  this  time  put  her  baby 
to  sleep.  Leaving  the  little  creature  in  its  father's 
care,  she  stepped  out  of  the  wagon  and  made  her 
way  into  the  house,  through  the  gangs  of  Caffres 
that  encircled  the  fires.  A  disheartening  scene  was 
there :  the  men  sulky  and  savage,  the  women  help- 
less and  weeping.  One  of  the  daughters  had  a 
husband  who  was  absent  on  a  journey  to  the  Cape ; 
she  did  nothing  but  bewail  his  absence  with  folded 
hands.  Were  Makomo's  Caffres  within  a  furlong 
of  the  house,  it  seemed  as  if  their  bewilderment 
and  uselessness  would  be  the  same. 

"Ah,"  thought  the  missionary's  wife,  "how 
happy  am  I  that  my  trust  is  placed  in  the  Lord 
my  God,  and  that  I  know  assuredly  that  'all 
things  work  together  for  my  good !' }; 

She  could  not  speak  of  this  secret  of  peace  to 
these  Boer  women ;  she  could  only  appeal  to  the 
general  ground  of  God's  providential  care,  and 
that  with  difficulty  from  the  brokenness  of  her 
language. 

"  Tell  them,  tell  them,"  she  said  to  Mr.  Owen, 
who  entered  after  her,  "  that  e"ven  the  sparrows  are 
taken  care  or  by  the  great  God ;  how  much  more 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  2W 

will  he  not  take  care  of  his  creatures  who  have 
souls !" 

The  missionary  opened  the  Dutch  Testament  and 
read  for  them  that  passage  which  has  comforted 
and  strengthened  so  many  hearts  in  dangerous 
times.  What  numerous  biographies  could  be  ap- 
pended to  it !  It  is  one  of  God's  choicest  cordials 
for  a  careful  or  anxious  soul. 

"  Pray  for  them,  do  !"  said  Mrs.  Mason,  entreat- 
ingly.  "  The  Lord  will  enable  you ;"  and  she  and 
the  missionary  kneeled  down.  The  strange  tongue 
flowed  more  easily  to  his  lips  than  he  could  have 
hoped,  and  gradually  those  listeners  kneeled  down 
also,  except  the  oldest  man ;  even  the  rough  Hen- 
drik  bent,  yielding  to  the  strange  emotion  of  rev- 
erence. 

"  Now  that  we  have  prayed,"  said  Mrs.  Mason, 
"  and  given  ourselves  into  God's  care,  let  us  also 
set  to  work.  You  cannot  escape  if  you  sit  there, 
Mrs.  Van  Smit !  Is  there  nothing  you  would  like 
to  save,  to  take  away  in  the  wagon  with  you  ?  for 
I  suppose  this  house  will  be  destroyed,  as  ours 
was." 

Having  come  out  of  the  same  danger,  she  and 
her  counsels  had  weight  with  the  vrouws  which  no 
speculative  adviser  could  have  had.  They  were 


214  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

much  happier  when  fairly  at  work  doing  some- 
thing to  help  themselves,  though  still  want  of 
judgment  was  much  evidenced  in  the  nature  of  the 
things  they  would  fain  save;  and  Mrs.  Mason  had 
no  repose  that  night,  save  whatever  she  snatched 
in  the  jolting  wagon  after  her  party  were  on  the 
road  once  more. 

"  Serve  them  right !"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  who  had 
no  compassion  for  the  sudden  pauperizing  of  these 
Boers.  "  They  and  their  forefathers  have  oppressed 
this  fine  country  and  enslaved  its  races  till  it  is 
nearly  ruined.  Dutch  history  is  just  a  tissue  of 
cruelties  and  treacheries  toward  the  aborigines  of 
this  colony,  and  I'm  not  sorry  that  some  of  the 
score  is  about  to  be  paid  back." 

"  You  are  very  vengeful,"  observed  Mr.  Owen. 
"  These  individual  Boers,  so  far  as  we  know,  have 
been  inoffensive." 

"  '  So  far  as  we  know  !'  That  is  just  nothing  at 
all.  Wait  till  you  travel  through  the  Hottentot 
country,  and  you  will  find. enough  to  explain  my 
antipathy  to  the  race  of  Dutch  farmers.  Their 
crimes  are  innumerable.  I  venture  to  say  that 
that  very  Hendrik,  son  of  the  Boer  whose  place  we 
have  just  left,  hasn't  a  very  comfortable  conscience 
about  his  treatment  of  the  natives,  though  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  215 

Caffres  have  always  got  better  quarters  from  these 
Hollanders  than  any  other  tribe ;  and  why  ?  Be- 
cause they  were  stronger  and  more  intelligent,  and 
could  not  be  maltreated  with  impunity." 

"  At  all  events  the  Boers  have  little  power  now," 
said  his  friend. 

"Yes,  where  British  law  reaches,  but  in  these 
wide  regions,  nominally  under  British  protection, 
where  a  magistrate  or  a  redcoat  is  never  seen,  what 
is  the  case  ?  I  will  tell  you  a  fact  concerning  the 
frontier  Boers,  of  which  you  may  not  be  aware. 
They  make  regular  slave-hunting  forays,  as  atro- 
cious as  any  perpetrated  by  West  African  kings. 
You  heard  that  young  fellow  to-day  talk  of  black 
( property? '  That  is  what  they  used  to  call  their 
slaves;  and  though  professedly  having  slaves  is 
illegal,  and  the  old  kidnapping  is  an  offence  pun- 
ishable by  law,  the  hearts  of  Boers  turn  after  the 
former  state  of  things,  and  many  of  the  old  settlers 
will  never  forgive  the  English  government  for  hav- 
ing emancipated  their  Hottentot  serfs." 

"  They  seem  to  have  such  a  detestation  for  col- 
oured persons,"  observed  the  missionary.  "  When 
I  was  going  to  Tabor  last  year,  this  very  Van 
Srnit  talked  his  best  to  persuade  me  that  preaching 
to  the  natives  was  mere  waste  of  breath.  I  showed 


216  THE  FOUNTA.'N  KLOOF. 

him  our  poor  faithful  Kama  this  evening,  and  ex- 
amined him  as  to  his  faith  in  his  presence.  He 
seemed  a  little  surprised  at  the  religious  intelli- 
gence he  manifested." 

"  I  should  hardly  take  Mr.  Van  Smit  for  a  good 
judge.  In  my  wanderings  through  the  border- 
lands of  the  colony,  I  have  found  the  Boers  in 
many  instances  as  degraded  as  the  blacks,  yet 
thinking  themselves  immeasurably  superior.  An- 
other of  their  practices  in  those  out-of-the-way 
places  was  to  go  to  a  native  kraal  whenever  they 
wanted  hands  for  field-labour,  and  demand  twenty 
or  thirty  women  to  weed  or  reap,  and  away  would 
come  the  poor  Caffre  or  Hottentot  wives  with  their 
food,  for  the  days  or  weeks  they  would  be  absent, 
packed  on  their  heads  and  their  infants  on  their 
backs.  This  was  another  crying  injustice.  Truly 
I  don't  compassionate  Mr.  Van  Smit's  forced  exo- 
dus when  I  regard  him  as  a  representative  man  !" 

At  some  distance  behind  the  Enfield  procession 
came  that  of  the  Boer  family,  who,  having  despised 
the  danger  till  the  last  moments  for  escape,  were 
now  as  unreasonably  alarmed  as  their  sluggish  na- 
tures would  permit.  None  of  their  farm  or  house 
servants  could  be  got  to  attend  on  them  in  this  ex- 
tremity. All  hailed  the  prospect  of  the  spoil  of 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF  217 

their  master's  property  with  an  elation  they  cared 
not  to  conceal  when  beyond  reach  of  the  ox- whip. 
Mr.  Enfield  was  obliged  to  contribute  some  of  his 
own  servants  to  be  the  necessary  "  foreloupers" 
and  drivers  for  the  flying  family. 

The  Boer  vrouws  viewed  Mrs.  Mason's  compo- 
sure and  cheerfulness  with  round-eyed  wonder. 
How  could  it  be  ?  She  had  lost  as  much  as  they 
in  losing  her  home  and  possessions,  yet  was  she 
bright  and  thankful  while  jolting  through  the  wil- 
derness and  pursued  by  an  enemy.  It  was  totally 
past  their  comprehension. 

She  tried  to  tell  them  the  blessed  secret  of  her 
calm,  "the  perfect,  perfect  rest"  which  Christ's 
love  is  to  the  believer  under  circumstances  the 
most  trying,  and  that  they  might  have  just  the 
same  trust  and  the  same  peace.  Sometimes,  during 
those  dreary  days  of  companionship,  she  thought 
she  discerned  a  gleam  of  recognition  of  the  truth, 
but  on  the  whole  she  was  discouraged. 

"  How  are  you  doing  it,  my  dear  sister  ?"  said 
Philip  Owen  to  her  when  she  expressed  her  disap- 
pointment. "  How  are  you  preaching  the  gospel 
to  them  ?  Take  care  that  it  be  not  too  much 
through  the  coloured  glass  of  your  own  experience 
or  sensations.  The  promise  is  sure  as  God  can 


218  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

make  it.  '  I,'  saith  Christ — '  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up, 
will  draw  all  men  unto  me  !'  " 

She  raised  her  eyes  to  his,  full  of  tears. 

"  I  see,  I  see  !"  said  this  true  missionary's  wife ; 
"  I  have  not  held  up  Christ  enough  !  I  have  not 
remembered  that  that  is  enough  to  draw  sinners 
out  of  the  mire  and  clay  and  to  set  their  feet  on 
the  eternal  Rock." 

"  It  is  the  world's  magnet !"  said  the  missionary. 
"  A  sight  of  Christ  is  all  we  want,  sinners  or  saints, 
for  pardon  and  for  joy." 

And  so  Mrs.  Mason  was  simpler  in  her  dealings 
with  these  Boer  women's  souls  during  the  rest  of 
their  time  together,  and  the  seed  sown  bore  fruit, 
though  not  until  after  many  days. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  work  of  a  missionary's  wife 
is  no  whit  less  important  than  that  of  the  mission- 
ary himself.  Her  peculiar  department  among  the 
women,  civilized  or  savage,  with  whom  she  comes 
in  contact,  is  a  work  which  no  minister  could  fulfil 
so  efficiently  as  his  wife  can.  And  she  can  smooth 
the  way  for  his  teachings  in  many  instances.  A 
high  and  honourable  place  does  she  occupy  in  me 
field  of  mission  labour,  and  her  reward  shall  not 
be  wanting  in  the  day  when  rewards  are  given 
before  heaven  and  earth  for  witnesses. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

GRAAFF    REYNET. 

!T  lay  asleep  in  the  scorching  sun,  this  old- 
fashioned  Dutch-built  town,  on  a  glowing 
January  day.  Laid  out  at  regular  angles 
were  the  formal  streets,  planted  with  trees 
of  the  kaffer-boom  and  oak  species  to  shade  the 
pathways  and  the  antique  gables  of  the  stuccoed 
and  whitened  houses.  Neat,  prim  and  orderly 
Avere  these  very  rows  of  houses,  reproducing  Am- 
sterdam or  Leyden  somewhat,  as  became  the  ances- 
try of  the  place — for  Graaff  Key  net  was  founded 
by  the  Dutch  rulers  of  the  Cape,  before  the  close 
of  the  last  century,  to  be  a  "  drostdy"  or  chief 
town  of  a  province,  governed  by  a  land-drost. 
Hence  its  antiquity  is  marvellous  in  a  region 
where  twenty-five  years  is  a  steady  age  for  a  town, 
and  where  at  the  time  of  its  building  there  was  no 
European  village  or  town  in  all  the  vast  tracts  to 
the  east,  reaching  hundreds  of  miles  to  the  now 

flourishing  colony  of  Natal. 

219 


220  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

To  the  north  rose  a  curve  of  the  Sneeuwbergen, 
or  Snow  Mountains,  along  the  base  of  which  our 
travellers  had  been  toiling.  Their  first  intention 
had  been  to  continue  due  south  and  take  shelter  in 
the  British  division  of  Fort  Beaufort,  but  alarm- 
ing rumours  of  a  disturbed  country  between  caused 
a  change  of  plan,  and  they  hailed  the  sight  of  the 
old  Dutch  settlement  of  Graaff  Reynet  with  de- 
light. After  dreary  plains  of  karroo  veldt,  it  was 
pleasant  to  behold  well-irrigated  lands  and  clumps 
of  verdant  trees  instead  of  great  grassless  expanses 
of  sandy  soil,  diversified  only  by  stunted  mesem- 
bryanthemums  and  stapelias ;  and  after  so  many 
days'  insecurity  and  wandering,  the  prospect  of 
European  habitations  and  civilized  protection  was 
doubly  grateful. 

Here  was  a  large  Dutch  Reformed  church,  in 
which,  as  they  outspanned  near  the  town  on  a  Sab- 
bath afternoon,  they  attended  evening  worship. 
To  be  again  among  a  congregation  in  the  courts  of 
the  Lord's  house  was  most  gratifying  to  the  minds 
of  the  missionaries,  and  they  remembered  that 
where  "two  or  three  were  gathered  together"  Jesus 
was  in  their  midst.  The  rugged-sounding,  rudely- 
sung  hymns,  with  a  volume  of  voices,  were  sweet 
to  their  wilderness  ears  as  seraphic  music.  It  was 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  221 

wonderful  to  behold  any  person  inattentive,  even 
though  attracted  by  their  travel-stained  aspect. 
After  the  service  many  of  the  townspeople  gather- 
ed about  the  strangers  with  welcome  and  congratu- 
lations on  their  escape.  News  had  come  that  every 
mission-station  in  Caffraria  was  to  be  burned,  and 
refugees  were  abundant.  Troops  were  supposed  to 
marching  from  Cape  Colony  or  coming  round  in 
ships,  but  their  arrival  must  be  matter  of  time ; 
and  meanwhile  the  fleet-footed  savages  were  spread- 
ing everywhere,  "  lifting"  cattle,  devastating  farms 
and  villages,  and  slaying  such  colonists  as  awaited 
their  fury. 

Our  missionaries  spent  their  evening  in  the 
spotlessly  neat  kitchen  of  an  old  Dutch  minister, 
who  sought  them  out  and  would  fain  show  them 
hospitality.  They  preferred  his  company  to  that 
of  others  who  were  urgent  with  invitations,  because 
in  him  they  easily  recognized  a  brother  in  Christ — 
not  for  that  he  was  an  accredited  pastor  merely, 
but  that  he  immediately  revealed  to  them  those 
signal  fruits  of  the  Spirit — "  love,  joy  and  peace." 

Mr.  Enfield  went  to  stay  with  a  chief  magistrate 
in  the  place,  Sir  Andries  Stockenstrom.  He  had 
no  taste  for  the  simplicity  of  the  Dutch  minister's 
homely  life  and  homely  talk.  It  would  have  been 


222  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

irksome  and  stupid  to  him.  He  only  saw  in  the 
old  man  an  uninteresting  deaf  personage,  with  an 
exceedingly  contracted  set  of  ideas. 

But  what  a  bond  is  brotherhood  in  Christ !  The 
simple  meal  was  not  over  before  the  faces  of  these 
three  men  glowed  with  gladness,  as  if  shone  upon 
by  a  sunlight  not  of  this  world.  The  powerful 
and  highly-educated  intellect  of  Philip  Owen,  the 
more  limited  capacities  of  Mr.  Mason,  the  dulled 
brain  of  the  old  Dutch  minister  had  all  come  upon 
common  ground,  where  learning  was  of  little  ad- 
vantage and  a  proud  intellect  rather  a  disqualifica- 
tion— the  experimental  knowledge  of  their  Lord 
and  of  his  truth.  Here  might  the  cleverest  of  the 
three  sit  at  the  feet  of  the  most  untaught  in  earthly 
lore.  Philip  Owen  felt  himself  to  be  far  below  and 
behind  the  poor  half-educated  Dutchman,  whose 
chief  master  in  theology  had  been  his  old  Bible. 

They  soon  fell  to  talking  of  the  state  of  the 
Church  in  Africa,  the  efforts  making  to  evangelize 
the  vast  native  and  colonial  population,  and  how 
partial  they  were. 

"  This  war  will  fling  back  everything  in  the  way 
of  religion  or  even  of  civilization,"  said  Mr.  Ma- 
son. "  I  tremble  for  the  fate  of  our  stations  along 
jhe  coast,  which  were  once  so  flourishing." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  223 

"  They  cannot  overthrow  God's  work,"  returned 
the  old  minister ;  "  and  whatever  living  stones  are 
lying  in  Caffraria  for  his  spiritual  temple  will  as- 
suredly be  taken  out  and  shaped  for  his  work." 

"  Perhaps  this  affliction  is  part  of  the  chiselling," 
said  Mr.  Owen. 

"  Even  so,  dear  brother,"  was  the  reply,  as  the 
old  man  turned  his  dim  eyes  upon  the  tall,  upright 
form  of  the  young,  stalwart  English  clergyman. 
"  And  a  deal  of  chiselling  it  takes — oh  yes !  a  great 
deal — before  one  is  fit  for  the  Master's  work." 

"  I  dare  say,"  said  Mr.  Owen,  suddenly  remem- 
bering, "  you  have  met  Vanderkemp  ? — Doctor 
Vanderkemp,  the  great  pioneer  of  missions  in 
South  Africa?" 

He  had  to  repeat  the  name  before  it  reached  the 
failing  sense  of  the  listener,  but  then  there  was  a 
gleam  of  pleasure  at  once : 

"  Vanderkemp  !  yes ;  he  sat  in  this  house.  He 
honoured  this  chamber  with  his  presence — verily 
a  holy  man !" 

"I  suppose  that  was  when  he  took  refuge  in 
Graaff  Reynet  from  the  rebellion  in  Caffraria  ?" 

"  Ay ;  he  came  to  meet  our  brethren  Vander- 
lingen  and  Read.  He  taught  the  Hottentots, 
whom  all  others  thought  impossible  to  be  taught. 


224  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

He  got  your  English  governor  Dundas'  permis- 
sion to  found  a  colony  for  them.  I  was  at  that 
colony,  near  Algoa  Bay,  away  a  hundred  miles 
south.  I  saw  the  good  man's  perplexity  and  suf- 
ferings in  that  place.  Oh  truly  he  was  a  good 
soldier  of  Jesus  Christ !  All  men's  hands  were 
against  him.  The  colonists  accused  him  of  har- 
bouring robbers,  and  complained  of  him  to  the 
government  as  taking  part  with  the  lawless  Hot- 
tentots and  Caffres,  while  he  was  purely  labouring 
for  the  good  of  the  heathen's  souls.  Your  gov- 
ernor Dundas  was  a  fine  man ;  he  did  not  believe 
the  calumnies ;  nevertheless  he  was  compelled  to 
order  that  no  fresh  Hottentots  should  be  received 
into  Vanderkemp's  village.  They  took  refuge  in 
the  woods,  and  lived  like  beasts  when  they  were 
refused.  Vanderkemp's  heart  bled  over  this.  He 
would  not  go  to  the  Cape,  where  the  governor 
wanted  him  to  remove  as  soon  as  he  believed  it 
unsafe  to  continue  the  mission-station  at  Botha's 
farm.  He  and  the  brethren  with  him  would  have 
perished  for  want  of  food  if  Dundas  had  not  sup- 
plied them  with  rice  and  salt  meat  from  Fort 
Frederick.  At  last  they  were  driven  to  take  shel- 
ter there,  with  their  three  hundred  people,  and  it 
was  harder  to  teach  these  savages,  and  to  keep 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  225 

them  in  the  paths  of  morality  in  the  midst  of  a 
godless  garrison  of  whites,  than  ever  it  had  been  in 
the  wilderness  when  they  suffered  the  lack  of  all 
things." 

"  Ah,  there  it  is  again  ! — the  curse  of  the  bad 
behaviour  of  professing  Christians !"  said  Mr. 
Mason,  who,  in  the  early  period  of  his  missionary 
labours,  had  been  much  exposed  to  feel  it.  "  How 
is  the  wretched  savage  to  judge  if  he  sees  the  civ- 
ilized white  man  kneeling  in  church  or  chapel  one 
day,  and  the  next  day  guilty  of  fraud  or  drunken- 
ness or  some  other  palpable  sin  ?" 

The  old  Dutch  minister  saw  his  lips  moving, 
and  waited  in  his  narrative  until  he  saw  them 
silent. 

"  When  our  General  Janssen  became  governor — 
for  this  colony  was  ceded  back  to  the  United  Prov- 
inces at  the  conclusion  of  a  European  peace — he 
favoured  Vanderkemp  still  as  much  as  your  Dun- 
das  had  done.  My  brothers,  how  trifling  appears 
this  transfer  of  a  colony  compared  with  the  con- 
version of  those  souls  among  which  Vanderkemp 
was  labouring!" 

After  a  pause  he  resumed :  "  They  went  to  found 
the  station  of  Bethelsdorp — a  most  unsuitable 
place.  Have  you  been  there?" 

15 


226  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Mr.  Mason  had  seen  it — set  in  a  steiile,  un- 
watered  region,  where  even  bread  could  not  be 
expected  from  the  arid  soil.  He  wondered  it  had 
been  retained  as  a  station.  It  must  absorb  large 
sums  of  money,  and  could  never  be  thoroughly 
self-supporting. 

"I  will  tell  you  why  Vanderkemp  loved  it," 
said  the  old  minister :  "  because  there  the  harvest 
of  his  labours  began — because  there  the  Lord  God 
'blessed  his  work  among  young  and  old  marvel- 
lously. His  schools  were  full,  and  the  progress  of 
the  young  Hottentots  in  learning  to  read  and  write 
astonished  him;  but  more  was  he  delighted  to  per- 
ceive their  progress  in  religious  truth.  He  could 
say,  with  the  words  of  Solomon's  song,  '  Lo,  the 
winter  is  past,  the  rain  is  over  and  gone;  the 
flowers  appear  on  the  earth ;  the  time  of  the  sing- 
ing of  birds  is  come;  the  fig  tree  putteth  forth  her 
green  figs  and  the  vines  the  tender  grapes.' " 

Philip  Owen  thought  how  well  worthy  all  the 
missionary's  cares  and  pains  were  of  such  results ! 
Would  he  himself  not  joyfully  suffer  and  toil  that 
he  might  be  able  to  say  those  gladsome  words  at 
the  last,  and  point  to  regenerated  souls  which  his 
God  had  given  him  for  his  hire ! 

"If  I   don't   mistake,"   observed   Mr.   Mason, 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  227 

"the  doctor  wrote  those  very  words  which  you 
have  been  quoting  in  his  journal,  reverend  sir." 

"  Perhaps  so — perhaps  so.  You  have  the  book 
yonder — look !"  And  Mr.  Mason  took  it  down 
from  the  rude,  narrow  book-shelf  which  held  the 
aged  preacher's  library.  "Read,  read,"  he  said, 
and  put  his  hand  to  his  ear  to  help  the  sound. 

The  quotation  occurred  in  a  touching  passage 
wherein  Vanderkemp  narrates  his  conversation 
with  a  poor  Hottentot  woman.  She  had  told  him 
that  she  incessantly  prayed  to  Jesus  to  reveal  him- 
self to  her  and  teach  her  what  she  ought  to  know, 
and  his  heart  was  filled  with  joy  to  hear  of  this 
heartfelt  prayer.  "  I  asked  the  Lord,"  he  writes, 
"  that  it  might  please  him  to  accompany  the  un- 
worthy efforts  of  his  vile  servant  with  the  influ- 
ences of  his  Spirit.  And  oh!  how  did  my  soul 
rejoice  that  the  Lord  had  given  me  in  this  wilder- 
ness, among  tigers  and  wolves  and  at  such  a  dis- 
tance from  other  Christians,  a  poor  heathen  woman 
with  whom  I  could  converse  confidently  of  the 
mysteries  of  the  hidden  communion  with  Christ. 
Oh,  that  I  may  not  be  deceived !  '  Lo,  my  winter 
is  past,' "  etc. 

"His  first-fruits,"  said  the  old  minister;  "but 
the  Lord  granted  him  many  such  afterward,  and 


228  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

even  now  Vanderkemp's  labours  have  not  ceased 
to  do  good.  He  was  one  of  the  chief  movers  in 
the  emancipation  of  the  Hottentots,  though  he  did 
not  live  to  see  the  completion  of  it." 

He  died  seventeen  years  previously  to  their  final 
emancipation  in  1828,  and  the  last  words  on  the 
devoted  missionary's  lips  were,  "  All  is  well." 

"An  extraordinary  man,"  said  Mr.  Owen.  "One 
sees  the  old  apostolic  fervour  revived  in  him. 
Oh. for  a  few  more  such  labourers  in  the  whitened 
fields !" 

"  The  Lord  of  the  harvest  can  send  them,  my 
brother.  We  are  to  ask  him.  That  is  the  course 
he  himself  marks  out  for  us.  Pray  ye,  therefore, 
the  Lord,  and  the  promise  is  sure.  '  If  ye  shall 
ask  anything  in  my  name/  saith  Christ,  '  I  will 
do  it!'" 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

"ONS   ARME    HEIDENEN." 

HAT  was  a  refreshing  evening  which  our 
two  missionary  labourers  spent  with  the 
old  Dutch  pastor«  in  Graaff  Reynet.  He 
was  a  man  of  deep  spirituality  and  varied 
experiences,  and  though  his  labours  had  not  been 
among  the  natives — he  confessed  an  utter  inability 
to  master  either  the  clicking  gutturals  of  the 
Hottentot  language  or  the  stately-sounding  Caffre 
tongue — he  was  able  to  give  his  "  young  brothers," 
as  he  called  them,  some  valuable  hints. 

"  You  live  in  a  day  of  great  promise,"  was  his 
remark.  "  I  remember  when  the  whole  land  was 
under  a  famine  of  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
heathenism  of  the  whites  was  scarce  a  whit  better 
than  the  heathenism  of  the  blacks.  And  I  remem- 
ber when  the  very  idea  of  civilizing  the  natives 
was  treated  with  scorn  as  utterly  impossible,  except 
by  a  few  persons  like  your  Governor  Dundas,  who 
thought  they  were  human  beings,  though  wretched 

229 


230  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

slaves.  As  to  making  Christians  of  them,  the  man 
who  dreamed  of  such  a  thing  was  esteemed  a  mad- 
man. But  now  what  do  we  see  ?"  The  old  pastor 
began  to  reckon  on  his  fingers.  "  I  have  heard  the 
names  of  your  societies — your  noble-hearted  Eng- 
lish societies — and  I  remember  some  of  them.  The 
London  Missionary  Society,  which  founded  Beth- 
elsdorp,  and  under  which  Vanderkemp  laboured ; 
the  Baptist  Mission ;  the  Propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel, which  is  what  you  caU  Episcopal ;  the  Wesleyan 
Mission,  which  does  most  in  this  eastern  province 
and  has  pushed  farthest  into  heathenism.  And 
there  are  others  I  forget.  The  Moravians  gave 
Africa  the  very  first  missionary  in  George  Schmidt, 
and  the  French  and  Germans  have  missions.  It  is 
beautiful  to  think  of  them  all,  fighting  for  Jesus 
Christ  against  Satan  in  this  stronghold  of  heathen- 
ism !"  and  the  old  face  was  lighted  with  a  bright 
smile  as  his  hands  rested  on  his  knees. 

"  What  a  pity  they  cannot  be  all  fused  into  one 
great  working  agency !"  sai4  Mr.  Owen  in  English 
to  Mr.  Mason.  "  Breaking  up  the  beam  of  divine 
light  into  so  many  prismatic  rays,  it  must  fail  of 
full  power !" 

The  simile  was  too  philosophical  for  his  friend. 

"Dear  brother,  our  God  uses  imperfect  means  to 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.         .         231 

accomplish  his  perfect  purposes,  that  his  may  be  the 
praise  and  the  glory !"  he  observed,  reverently. 

"  But  just  think  how  noble  would  be  the  protest 
against  heathenism — { One  Lord,  one  faith,  one 
baptism !'  yet  we  split  on  our  miserable  minor  dif- 
ferences and  give  the  enemy  an  advantage  by  so 
doing !" 

"  There  is  field  enough  for  all,"  said  Mr.  Mason. 
"  The  thing  to  be  regretted  is,  when  sects  come 
into  collision  at  mission-stations,  as  has  sometimes 
happened  between  mine  and  yours,"  he  added,  with 
a  smile. 

The  old  pastor  was  looking  from  one  to  the  other. 

"  We  were  speaking  about  the  possibility  of 
joining  all  sects  in  one  grand  missionary  work," 
Mr.  Owen  explained  in  Dutch. 

He  shook  his  gray  head  with  a  smile.  "  Never 
until  our  Lord  conies  back,"  he  said.  "Never 
until  the  Church  is  triumphant  in  heaven !" 

"It  is  true,"  said  Mr.  Mason. 

"  But  I  would  say  to  you,  my  young  brother,"  the 
old  minister  continued,  laying  his  hand  on  Philip 
Owen's  shoulder,  "don't  enter  into  other  men's 
labours.  Strike  out  for  yourself;  the  continent  is 
wide,  and  the  perishing  souls  are  millions  upon 
millions!" 


232  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

In  answer  to  this,  Mr.  Owen  explained  his  evan- 
gelizing plan.  But  the  more  experienced  labourer 
did  not  seem  greatly  to  approve  it. 

"  You  may  try  it,  but  in  the  long  run  you  will 
have,  I  think,  to  return  to  the  usual  fixed  station. 
For  one  of  the  main  features  of  the  barbarism  of 
the  natives  is  their  continually  moving  about;  they 
cannot  become  effectually  civilized  until  they  settle 
down." 

Mr.  Owen  acknowledged  that  there  was  some 
truth  in  this  statement.  But  his  plan  of  travelling 
about  through  desert  and  mountain  and  fertile  low- 
land, preaching  the  gospel  at  every  kraal  and  to 
every  handful  of  bushmen,  had  become  rooted  in 
his  mind  as  a  darling  ideal,  and  he  could  not  bear 
to  give  it  up.  He  would,  at  all  events,  try  how  it 
worked  in  practice. 

"  I  will  hold  up  Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  sin- 
ners," said  the  young  missionary  to  himself,  "and 
then  the  '  drawing'  is  not  to  be  mine  but  his  !  He 

will  fulfil  his  own  word." 

/ 

The  Boer  family  of  Van  Smit  remained  at  Graaf 
Reynet,  where  the  assemblage  of  houses,  the  num- 
bers of  people,  the  stir  of  traffic  astonished  the 
younger  women  to  dumbness.  London  cannot  be 
a  greater  surprise  to  a  person  from  an  islet  of  Shet- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  233 

land  than  this  primitive  Dutch  settlement  was  to 
these  dwellers  in  the  wilderness. 

The  rest  were  to  follow  the  course  of  the  Sun- 
day's River,  which  flows  from  the  Sneeuwbergen 
down  so  far  as  Algoa  Bay.  Mr.  En  field  intended 
to  take  shipping  for  Cape  Town  at  Port  Elizabeth ; 
the  others  had  not  decided  on  what  they  should  do. 
"  Waiting  for  the  guidance  of  circumstances," 
quoth  Mr.  Enfield — "  Waiting  for  the  guidance  of 
the  good  hand  of  our  God  upon  us,"  was  the 
thought  of  the  missionaries.  So  they  left  the  great 
wool-producing  lands  of  Graaf  Reynet  behind  them 
and  turned  their  faces  southward. 

There  were  plenty  of  settlers  along  their  route ; 
settlers  in  all  stages  of  settlement,  from  the 
"  wattle-and-daub"  shanty  just  erected,  to  the  neat 
pole-house  in  which  a  farmer's  family  had  lived  for 
years.  Nor  was  there  any  lack  of  work  for  the 
missionaries  along  the  line,  though  Mr.  Mason  was 
gratified  in  many  instances  to  find  that  ministers 
of  his  denomination  had  penetrated  to  even  these 
outlying  farms,  and  preached  the  gospel  to  a  people 
who,  but  for  the  itinerancy  of  such  men,  would 
never  have  heard  it  from  human  lips.  Beyond 
a  doubt,  the  Christianity  of  the  eastern  provinces 
of  South  Africa  is  more  largely  indebted  to  the 


234  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

labours   of   Wesley  an    missionaries    than   of   any 
others. 

Every  morning  and  evening,  under  the  shade  of 
spreading  trees  or  in  rocky  kloofs,  or  by  the  fire  in 
the  open  prairie,  wherever  the  party  outspanned, 
the  worship  of  God  consecrated  the  spot.  A  sum- 
mons was  sent  to  the  neighbouring  farms  and  the 
nearest  kraal  of  natives,  and  thus  Mr.  Owen's 
evangelizing  idea  was  realized  earlier  than  he  had 
thought  of.  It  answered  his  expectations.  He 
saw  hard  faces  soften  and  hard  eyes  drop  tears 
when  long-unused  minds  heard  the  good  news  of 
God's  love.  Often  the  period  of  outspanning  was 
anything  but  a  period  of  repose  for  him  or  his 
fellow-workman.  They  were  occupied  as  they 
loved  best  to  he,  in  teaching  "  these  sheep  in  the 
wilderness"  about  their  Lord. 

At  other  times,  but  very  seldom,  their  offices 
were  repulsed  by  some  hardened  white  man,  who 
feared  to  listen  to  that  pure  and  searching  truth 
which  would  condemn  the  whole  tenor  of  his  lifej 
for  in  regions  so  remote/ from  the  restraining  influ- 
ences of  European  society,  many  sins  flourished  un- 
reproved  in  the  sight  of  the  heathen. 

Occasionally  they  found  in  a  native  kraal  some 
Caffre  or  Hottentot  who  had  a  smattering  of  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  235 

outlines  of  Christianity,  who  could  perhaps  repeat 
a  few  words  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  or  lines  of  a 
sonorous  hymn  Mjhich  had  caught  his  musical  ear ; 
for  the  natives  have  very  quick  memory  for  sounds, 
and  learn  to  sing  sacred  music  almost  at  once  upon 
hearing  it.  And  so,  one  evening  raising  the  tune 
of  "  Greenland's  Icy  Mountains"  among  a  dusky 
audience,  in  front  of  their  oattle-fold,  the  mission- 
aries were  surprised  at  the  complete  manner  in 
which  one  black  fellow  chimed  in.  He  had  learned 
it  down  in  Port  Elizabeth,  whither  he  had  gone  to 
earn  his  cows ;  which  meant  that  he  had  worked 
as  a  semi-civilized  servant  until  he  had  gathered 
enough  money  to  purchase  one  or  two  cattle,  and 
then  had  returned  to  his  tribe  to  be  a  barbarian 
evermore,  and  buy  a  wife  as  soon  as  he  had  surplus 
beasts. 

Another  Caffre  in  the  audience  remained  per- 
fectly still,  squatting  on  the  ground  with  his  hand 
over  his  lips,  watching  the  worship.  When  it 
was  ended,  he  stood  up  and  asked,  "  Is  that  all  ? 
Why  don't  you  charm  your  demons,  O  white 
men  ?" 

The  white  men  did  not  understand  him,  where- 
upon he  went  through  some  gestures  of  bowing 
and  spreading  out  his  arms,  and  facing  round  and 


236  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

holding  a  pebble  in  his  hands  over  his  bendea 
head. 

"  Roman  Catholic  worship !"  exclaimed  Mr. 
Owen,  the  resemblance  suddenly  flashing  upon, 
him.  "  The  priest  at  mass  !" 

"  White  man  charming  his  demons/'  said  the 
native,  with  a  satisfied  grin;  as  he  squatted  on  the 
ground  again. 

Somewhere  in  his  wanderings  through  the  colony 
he  had  witnessed  the  worship  of  Roman  Catholics, 
and  become  impressed  with  this  not  unnatural  idea. 
The  missionaries  tried  to  teach  him  that  it  was 
false  and  evil  worship. 

"But  what  do  you  talk  about  in  time  of  service? 
You  talk  plenty  up  into  the  sky.  What  do  you 
talk?" 

The  sole  preparation  they  had  for  any  idea  of  a 
great  invisible  God  was  the  belief,  which  was  even 
partial  among  them,  of  the  spirits  of  ancestors. 
Others  said,  "  We  have  buried  them  in  the  cattle- 
fold,  deep  down.  We  have  trampled  over  them 
the  feet  of  our  cattle.  Can  they  break  that  hard 
ground  and  come  up  again  ?  When  we  see  we  will 
believe."  For  the  doctrine  which  startled  them 
most  was  that  of  the  resurrection — the  very  doc- 
trine which  was  prominent  in  the  apostles'  teaching. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  237 

Then  there  \vere  Epicureans  among  them,  who 
assented  to  all  things  with  a  perplexing  indiffer- 
ence, or  at  most  expressed  their  dissent  in  the 
mild  words,  "Do  we  know  what  he  is  saying?" 
Wrapped  in  their  karosses,  they  would  sit  in  a 
silent  circle  listening,  and  the  minister  had  the 
distressing  consciousness  that  he  might  as  well  be 
pouring  water  on  a  quicksand  as  instruction  into 
their  ears. 

"  But  your  God  has  given  you  a  religion  for  the 
white  man  alone ;  we  do  not  go  up  to  God  as  you 
do  when  you  die ;  we  are  put  into  the  ground  in 
the  cattle-fold,  and  we  never  rise  up  again." 

For  the  cemetery  of  each  tribe  or  kraal  is  in  its 
cattle-pen,  and  a  few  hours  after  death  every  trace 
of  the  grave  is  removed  by  trampling. 

"  Oh  the  curse  of  Babel !"  would  Mr.  Owen  cry, 
when  to  these  and  other  objections  he  could  only 
answer  through  the  medium  of  a  very  imperfectly 
known  language.  "How  I  long  to  speak  freely 
and  abundantly  to  them  of  the  things  of  God,  with- 
out being  obliged  to  filter  my  thoughts  through  a 
translation !" 

He  was  much  more  at  home  when  he  met  with 
Hottentots  who  understood  Dutch.  Early  German 
studies  had  given  him  the  mastery  of  a  tongue  so 


238  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

nearly  allied  that  he  was  almost  fluent  in  the  Low 
Dutch  of  the  colony.  How  pleased  was  he,  how 
recompensed  for  many  a  fruitless  toil,  to  hear  one 
of  these  poor  creatures  pray  the  Lord  to  send  a 
teacher — "  voor  ons  arme  Heidenen  !" — for  us  poor 
heathen.  Tears  of  joy  filled  the  missionary's  eyes — 
the  gladdest  and  purest  emotion,  the  nearest  per- 
haps to  heavenly  joy,  that  a  mortal  can  feel. 

Among  experiences  such  as  these  they  journeyed 
on  toward  Port  Elizabeth,  sometimes  kept  back  a 
day  by  a  torrent  which  they  had  to  cross,  and  which 
rain  from  the  mountains  had  rendered  unfordable, 
but  freed  from  the  alarms  of  war  which  had  ren- 
dered the  former  part  of  their  travel  uneasy.  Now 
did  praise  fill  their  lips  as  their  hearts — often  they 
marched  along  singing  joyfully.  When  it  was  a 
Caffre  hymn,  most  of  the  servants  would  join; 
and  vocal  music  seems  to  be  perfectly  natural  to 
these  natives.  Jan,  the  Hottentot  driver,  alone 
would  sit  on  his  perch  behind  the  oxen  and 
grunt. 

"Our  friend  Moffat  tells  an  amusing  story  of 
their  love  of  singing,"  said  Mr.  Mason,  when  some 
remark  was  made  on  the  characteristic.  "  He  had 
set  the  alphabet  to  that  very  taking  tune,  'Auld 
Lang  Syne,'  and  taught  many  a  score  of  Bechuanas 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  239 

through  its  medium  ;  but  one  time  that  he  visited 
Mosheu's  kraal,  somewhere  in  the  interior,  he  had 
cause  to  rue  the  day  when  he  made  A  B  C  so 
attractive  to  native  ears.  After  several  services  in 
the  day,  he  was  in  the  evening  engaged  in  teaching 
the  young  folks  their  letters,  when  some  who  had 
heard  of  the  famous  recipe  for  quick  learning  of 
them,  demanded  to  be  taught  the  ABC  with 
music.  Voice  after  voice  caught  up  and  re- 
echoed the  strain ;  Moffat  declares  that  he  does  not 
think  a  hut  in  the  village  was  without  its  in- 
habitant joining,  for  those  who  had  been  asleep 
came  forth  to  mix  in  the  noise.  Two  hours  the 
hapless  missionary  himself  had  to  lead  the  chorus, 
and  when  he  got  away  for  a  little  repose  the  music 
continued  with  unabated  energy,  till  he  was  ready 
to  wish  it  at  John  o'  Groat's  house,  which  would 
be  far  enough.  In  the  morning  he  heard  it  all 
again,  sung  by  the  women  in  the  fields  and  the 
men  herding  the  cattle — everybody  singing  his 
alphabet," 

"  It  might  be  used  most  profitably,  this  aptitude 
for  tunes,"  said  Mr.  Owen.  "  Fill  their  minds  with 
words  expressing  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel, 
and  who  knows  when  the  good  seed  might  sink  in 
and  bear  fruit  ?" 


240  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

He  fell  into  a  reverie  over  the  idea,  as  was  his 
wont — a  reverie  which  resulted  in  his  studying  the 
Caffre  language  more  closely  than  ever  with  a 
view  to  the  composition  of  native  hymns,  simply 
worded,  yet  containing  all  God's  truth. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

ALGOA     BAY. 

|EFORE  them  spread  the  wide  blue  waters 
of  the  Indian  Ocean,  far  out,  calm  as  a 
painted  sea.  Nearer  at  hand  the  shore  was 
lined  with  surf,  and  reefs  upon  which  rolled 
unceasing  surges.  In  the  open  roadstead,  under 
the  western  coast  of  the  hay,  mauy  ships  were 
lying  at  anchor  opposite  the  town  of  Port  Eliza- 
beth, which  in  England  would  be  deemed  but  a 
petty  seafaring  place,  with  its  population  of  five  or 
six  thousand  souls,  but  in  Cape  Colony  is  deemed 
of  sufficient  importance  to  have  gained  the  appella- 
tion of  "the  Liverpool  of  the  Cape." 

A  stirring,  bustling  little  port  enough  when  our 
travellers  entered  it,  life  concentrating  chiefly  round 
the  landing-place,  where  the  unloading  of  ships 
was  going  on  under  the  hands  of  Caffres,  Fingoes 
and  Malays,  who  are  the  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water,  as  seems  the  providential  ordi- 
nance for  all  races  beneath  the  dominant  Anglo- 

16  241 


242  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Saxon  energy.  The  place  had  grown  even  since 
Mr.  Enfield  was  here  before,  and  its  pulse  of  ac- 
tivity seemed  of  a  higher  tone. 

"  For  twenty-six  years  old  we  are  doing  pretty 
well,"  observed  the  merchant  from  whom  he  was 
taking  his  passage  to  Cape-Town.  "  Our  imports 
and  exports  cut  a  very  respectable  figure  last  year 
in  the  returns,  but  I  suppose  this  unfortunate  na- 
tive rising  will  damage  them  for  the  current  year." 
And  he  looked  rather  regretfully  at  the  large  led- 
gers open  on  the  desks  and  piled  on  his  shelves. 

"  I  did  not  think,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  "  that  the 
traffic  with  native  tribes  outside  the  colony  was 
sufficiently  important  to  produce  any  great  dimi- 
nution in  the  imports,  suppose  it  were  cut  off." 

"  One  of  the  earliest  steps  of  government  must 
be  to  forbid  the  passage  of  traders  across  the  fron- 
tier, for  there  is  no  readier  way  of  annoying  and 
crippling  the  enemy.  In  the  first  place,  the  loss 
of  tobacco  will  be  terrible  to  him.  You,  sir,  who 
have  travelled  so  much  in  the  interior,  know  that 
even  the  women  and  children  smoke  and  take 
snuff.  I've  seen  them  swallow  snuff  in  a  ball,  they 
get  so  infatuated  about  it.  Then  all  the  luxuries 
of  their  lives,  in  the  shape  of  dress,  blankets,  but- 
tons, beads,  come  from  British  traders.  In  fact, 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOf. 

it's  not  clear  to  me  that  Makomo  will  be  able  to 
cany  on  the  war  against  the  fierce  opposition  of 
the  ladies  in  all  the  tribes  owning  him  chief,  for  to 
be  without  beads  is  to  them  as  bad  as  being  with- 
out silks  or  velvets  to  a  West-end  beauty." 

"  I've  been  amused  with  their  fashions,"  ob- 
served Mr.  Enfield,  rising.  "  In  passing  from 
tribe  to  tribe  I  have  seen  that  different  colours  of 
beads  were  the  rage  in  each — brass  buttons  per 
haps  among  the  Abatembu,  bright  blue  glass 
among  the  Tambookies,  and  white  metal  with  the 
Araapondos.  But  I  suppose  our  traders  dealt  in 
commodities  rather  more  harmful  than  beads  at 
times  ?" 

The  merchant  looked  knowing.  "  I  suspect  a 
good  deal  of  powder  and  shot  has  changed  hands," 
quoth  he.  "  They  are  known  to  have  magazines 
in  many  of  the  native  villages  beyond  the  border." 

The  gentlemen  came  out  of  the  narrow  wooden 
office  through  an  outer  one,  where  some  clerks 
were  at  work — one  or  two  of  them  coloured  men. 
They  stood  on  the  shore ;  twenty  miles  across  was 
the  other  shore  of  Algoa  Bay,  clear  through  the 
crystal  atmosphere. 

"  I  remember,"  says  the  merchant,  "  when  this 
coast  and  the  whole  site  of  Port  Elizabeth  was  a 


244  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

wild,  naked  country,  with  only  a  handful  of 
whitened  huts  built  at  the  landing-place ;  and  I 
remember  personally  stepping  from  the  boats  a 
penniless  lad,  with  the  world  before  me  and  my 
fortune  to  make." 

"You  have  made  it?"  remarked  Mr.  Enfield, 
interrogatively. 

"Indeed — pretty  well,  pretty  well,"  said  the 
merchant,  in  the  deprecating  manner  of  a  man 
who  has  won  some  of  life's  best  prizes,  but  does 
not  wish  to  boast ;  "  nothing  to  complain  of,  rny 
dear  sir."  And  his  hands  dived  comfortably  into 
his  pockets,  as  if  there  was  something  worth  pre- 
serving in  each.  "  We  were  ten  weeks  coming 
from  the  Downs  to  the  Cape,  and  two  weeks  later 
cast  anchor  here.  I  can  tell  you  the  prospect  was 
dismal  enough." 

"You  came  with  the  Albany  settlers,  I  pre- 
sume ?" 

"  Yes,  sir ;  we  reached  here  on  Monday  night, 
15th  May,  1820.  Far  as  the  eye  could  see  next 
morning,  sweeping  round  the  whole  curve  of  the 
bay,  were  masses  of  white  sand-hills.  Wherever 
there  was  an  opening  to  see  the  country,  it  looked 
sterile  and  unpromising — no  verdure." 

"I  can  perceive  that  all  this  has  not  been  much 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  245 

altered,"  said  Mr.  Enfield,  glancing  round  the 
prospect  from  under  his  palm-leaf  hat. 

"  But  here,  sir — but  here" — and  the  merchant 
waved  his  hand  toward  the  town — "  these  craggy 
hills  looked  on  a  very  different  landing-place. 
Two  or  three  thatched  cabins  rose  under  the  can- 
non of  Fort  Frederick,  where  our  troops  were 
stationed.  Was  this  the  fertile  land  we  had  been 
promised?  The  difficulties  of  getting  ashore  some- 
what diverted  our  minds  from  our  gloomy  fore- 
bodings. You  see  the  surf  rollers  which  line  the 
coast :  flat-bottomed  boats,  worked  by  warp,  took 
us  through  these  rather  than  over  them." 

"  Just  what's  going  on  over  there  now  ?"  said 
Mr.  Enfield,  nodding  toward  a  group  of  laden 
boats  coming  from  the  ships  in  the  offing,  each 
crested  with  a  dusky  crew,  ready  to  jump  in  and 
swim  or  wade,  as  seemed  best  for  the  interests  of 
their  cargo. 

"  Yes,  it's  rather  rude,  but  the  best  that  can  be 
done  at  present,"  was  the  reply.  "  Then  we  had 
to  pitch  tents  and  wait  patiently  for  the  Dutch 
wagons  which  had  been  ordered  by  government  to 
take  us  up  country.  Don't  I  remember  our  first 
Sunday?  You  saw  the  Wesleyan  chapel  in  the 
main  street  ?  Close  to  that  site  rose  a  mass  of 


246  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

stones  like  a  rocky  pyramid,  and  here  the  Rev- 
erend William  Shaw  took  his  stand,  on  that  28th 
May,  1820,  and  preached  from  the  appropriate 
word  '  Ebenezer' — '  Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  helped 
us' — for  he  had  helped  us  in  a  wonderful  way, 
and  has  gone  on  helping  us  ever  since." 

Seeing  no  response  in  the  face  of  his  companion, 
which  looked  out  steadfastly  to  sea,  the  good  mer- 
chant resumed  his  narrative  at  a  secular  point : 

"  But  the  real  founder  of  Port  Elizabeth  was  Sir 
Rufane  Donkin,  who  was  acting  governor  during 
the  absence  of  Lord  Charles  Somerset  in  England. 
He  saw  the  capabilities  of  this  spot  as  the  sea- 
mouth  of  the  eastern  province.  He  procured  an 
order  in  council  declaring  it  a  free  port,  and  caused 
a  town  to  be  laid  out  at  the  landing-place,  and 
encouraged  some  of  the  newly-arrived  settlers  to 
remain  and  manage  the  landing  and  shipment  of 
goods.  I  was  one  of  them,  for  I  had  no  taste  for 
an  agricultural  life,  and  was  glad  of  any  pretext 
for  staying  even  in  the  shadow  of  a  town ;  so  1 
never  suffered  as  the  others  did." 

"  Suffered  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir — sore  privations  at  first.  To  be  sure, 
each  head  of  a  family  had  a  free  grant  of  a  hun- 
dred acres  of  land,  and  government  had  engaged 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  247 

to  supply  them  with  rations  until  their  crops  came, 
but  what  land  it  was !  Never  had  spade  or  plough 
touched  it  before ;  the  stiff  red  loam  was  merely 
scratched  by  our  delicate  English  ploughs.  And 
what  farmers  it  had !  Half  of  them  were  from 
cities,  and  knew  as  much  of  sowing  and  planting 
as  they  did  of  navigation.  Those  who  were  for- 
tunate enough  to  get  strong  Dutch  ploughs  and 
oxen  found  the  driving  of  them  terribly  hard  work 
under  a  burning  African  sun.  Then,  when  all  this 
was  past  and  the  wheat  crops  were  growing  up,  a 
blight,  called  'the  rust,'  nearly  destroyed  them  all. 
The  settlers  did  not  quite  die  from  starvation,  and 
that  is  all  that  can  be  said  for  their  early  expe- 
riences. They  had  to  learn  that  the  growth  of 
wool  and  horned  cattle  is  the  special  forte  of 
Albany." 

"  Ay,  you  send  home  raw  material  and  take  back 
manufactures,"  said  Mr.  Enfield.  "All  right — 
may  your  port  grow  and  flourish." 

With  this  good  wish  he  went  his  way,  and  find- 
ing Mr.  Owen,  asked  him  to  walk  a  little  distance 
beside  him. 

"  I  wanted  to  say,  PI  ilip,  that  as  I  do  not  need 
my  wagon  or  oxen  any  longer,  you  can  have  them 
for  your  preaching-tour  if  you  will.  I  am  rich, 


248  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

and  the  money  for  which  I  would  sell  them  it 
nothing  to  me;  so  you  may  let  nie  have  the  pleas- 
ure of  contributing  to  the  comforts  of  a  friend." 

"  Gladly  and  thankfully/'  said  Mr.  Owen,  shak- 
ing his  hand.  "  I  was  intending  to  make  an  offer 
of  purchase,  but  this  will  give  me  more  money 
for  other  objects.  Dear  Charley,  I  only  wish  that 
this  generosity  was  not  for  my  sake,  but  for  that 
of  my  glorious  cause !" 

"  I  never  met  with  a  more  persistent  enthusiast 
than  you  are,"  was  the  reply.  "  Nor,  to  do  you 
justice,  have  I  ever  met  with  a  calmer  one." 

"  Suppose  I  was  going  to  the  Arctic  regions  to 
explore  the  dream  of  a  north-west  passage,  risking 
life  and  suffering  hardships,  you  would  deem  better 
of  my  enthusiasm,  Charley — and  not  only  you,  but 
the  world.  I  hope  I  have  closed  my  ears  to  the 
world's  siren  voice.  To  my  Master  I  look." 

He  raised  his  face  toward  the  radiant  sky. 

"  Yet  a  little  while,  and  He  that  shall  come  will 
come,  and  will  not  tarry,"  he  murmured. 

"  Philip !"  exclaimed  his  friend,  as  if  it  was 
forced  from  him,  "  the  ocean  which  soon  will  roll 
between  us  cannot  separate  us  more  widely  than 
our  spirits  have  become  separated  by  your  ultra 
religion." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  249 

"  It  is  not  because  I  have  become  the  ft  iend  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  that  therefore  you  would  not  have 
me  yours,  Charley?"  Mr.  Enfield's  momentary 
glance  conveyed  to  him  the  impression  of  possible 
tears  in  those  large  spiritual  eyes  bent  on  him  so 
tenderly.  "Dear  friend,  how  long  will  you  resist? 
How  long  will  you  shake  off  conviction  ?" 

The  other's  look  dropped  on  the  ground. 

"  I  should  give  up  everything,"  he  said — "  every- 
thing that  has  hitherto  sweetened  the  cup  of  life  to 
me — sport  and  all  its  excitements — and — and — " 

"  So  that  is  Satan's  snare  for  you,  dear  friend  ? 
The  hardness  of  '  giving  up !'  I  tell  you,  Charley 
— and  my  nightly  prayer  to  God  for  you  shall  be 
that  you  may  one  day  realize  the  blessed  truth  in 
full  force — I  tell  you,  Charley,  that  the  hardness 
and  the  difficulty  would  be  to  find  any  enjoyment 
in  mere  worldly  pleasure  once  that  your  soul  has 
tasted  the  surpassing  joy  of  Christ's  love." 

They  were  silent  for  some  minutes.  Mr.  Enfield 
had  never  felt  so  moved.  His  heart  struggled  like 
the  unquiet  surf  whereat  he  was  gazing,  and  not 
yet  would  he  admit  the  entrance  of  that  still  small 
voice  which  could  soothe  its  turmoil  into  eternal 
peace. 

He  paid  off  his  Caffre  and  Hottentot  servants, 


250  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

some  of  whom  expressed  their  willingness  to  en- 
gage with  the  missionary ;  others  would  go  back 
to  their  tribes,  relapse  into  barbarism,  and  be 
wealthy  savages  for  the  rest  of  their  lives.  Yellow 
Jan,  in  his  strange  click-clack,  stated  himself  ready 
to  continue  as  driver.  Sackaboni  would  not  leave 
his  "  dear  maser,"  James  Gilbert,  though  he  could 
no  longer  hope  for  the  indulgence  which  he  loved 
— the  riding  of  horses.  Mr.  Owen  would  have 
none.  He  was  desirous  that  his  equipment  should 
be  as  primitive  and  simple  as  possible,  thinking 
this  would  be  more  suitable  to  his  errand ;  so 
Mynheer  was  bought  by  somebody  at  Port  Eliza- 
beth, and  exchanged  his  nomadic  experiences  for 
the  more  prosaic  drawing  of  a  light  cart  about  the 
streets. 

His  master  set  sail  for  the  Cape  one  February 
morning,  and  on  arrival  was  considered  a  great 
authority  about  the  internal  state  of  Caffraria,  and 
for  a  while  lionized  in  consequence.  This  distinc- 
tion and  6clat,  however,  he  felt  to  be  a  very  hollow 
affair. 


CHAPTER    XXIII, 

BETHELSDORP. 

JEFORE  Mr.  Owen  went  again  "on  the 
trek/'  or  struck  forth  on  his  evangelizing 
tour,  he  visited  the  cradle  of  Hottentot 
missions  at  Bethelsdorp.  This  settlement 
lay  quite  near  Port  Elizabeth,  between  it  and  the 
Dutch  town  of  Uitenhage.  The  Swart-kop  (lit- 
erally, Black-head)  river  ran  beside  the  mission 
lands,  and  was  almost  the  sole  advantage  of  site. 
For  the  country  might  be  spoken  of  as  a  stony  des- 
ert. No  trees  can  grow ;  it  resembles  a  wild  west- 
ern seashore  in  their  total  absence.  A  zeal  and 
perseverance  of  no  ordinary  type  was  needful  to 
produce  and  sustain  a  settlement  here. 

Such  zeal  and  perseverance  had  been  bestowed. 
The  heroic  Vanderkemp,  who  had  founded  it,  was 
not  a  man  lightly  to  yield  to  difficulties.  A  popu- 
lation of  Christians,  nominal  and  real,  redeemed 
from  the  grossest  heathenism,  dwelt  in  this  wilder- 
ness, and  had  turned  it  as  much  as  might  be  into  a 

251 


252  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

garden.  A  good  emblem  was  their  sterile  soil  of 
the  sterile  hearts  which  the  missionary  had  to  cul- 
tivate, thought  Mr.  Owen;  and  the  partial  suc- 
cess, the  continued  labour,  typified  likewise  his 
work. 

He  seemed  satisfied  with  it.  For  no  more  dis- 
tinguished field  did  he  pine,  though  he  loved  im- 
mortal souls  with  a  love  caught  from  that  which 
burns  in  his  Master's  breast ;  but  he  was  content  to 
toil  at  these  poor  Hottentot  hearts,  planting  the 
good  seed  on  the  barren  soil  and  looking  to  his 
God  for  the  fruits  in  his  own  good  time. 

This  fellow-labourer  told  Mr.  Owen  various  facts 
connected  with  the  station  and  its  work.  Since  the 
emancipation  of  the  Hottentots  it  had  not  proved 
so  flourishing  as  before. 

"I  don't  understand  how  that  is,"  said  Mr. 
Owen. 

"  Because  this  settlement,  and  Theopolis  and 
others  like  it,  were  no  longer  the  only  asylums  for 
them.  A  great  many  of  them  went  away  to  the 
Kat  river  station  when  it  was  founded  by  the 
Hon.  Andries  Stockenstrom  as  an  outpost  in  Caf- 
fre-laud,  where  are  hundreds  of  church  members 
now." 

"  I  believe  it  was  a  desperate  struggle  to  liberate 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  253 

the  natives  in  1828,"  said  the  young  minister. 
"Vanderkemp  was  prime  mover  there,  too." 

"Yes,  he  saw  the  dawning  of  the  endeavour,  but 
did  not  witness  its  completion.  Eleven  years  he 
was  working  about  it,  and  spent  nearly  a  thousand 
pounds  of  personal  property  in  setting  slaves  free 
who  had  embraced  the  gospel ;  he  was  the  first 
public  asserter  that  Hottentots  had  any  rights,  civil 
or  religious,  beyond  the  beasts  that  perish.  And 
this  in  the  face  of  all  sorts  of  opposition  from  all 
sides ;  you  may  have  heard  of  his  noble  words  when 
he  was  advised  for  his  own  safety  to  leave  the  Hot- 
tentots for  a  time.  *  If  I  knew  that  I  should  save 
my  own  life  by  leaving  them,'  said  he,  '  I  should 
not  fear  to  offer  that  life  for  the  least  child  among 
them.'  Such  was  the  spirit  of  his  life." 

"  Their  slavery  must  have  been  of  a  worse 
species  than  I  supposed,"  said  Mr.  Owen,  "  to 
have  awakened  such  unbounded  sympathy  in  his 
breast." 

"  All  the  bad  features  of  American  slavery  were 
reproduced  here,"  replied  the  missionary.  "  I  have 
seen  a  Boer's  effects  sold — a  mother  and  three  chil- 
dren among  the  chattels  property — without  an  eye 
to  pity  the  poor  creatures  severed  for  ever  by  the 
auctioneer's  hammer.  I  recollect  that  a  girl  of  six- 


254  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

teen  fetched  at  that  sale  the  sura  of  sixteen  hundred 
rix-dollars.  You  may  imagine  the  fierce  opposition 
made  to  the  abrogation  of  such  valuable  human 
wares." 

"  Doctor  Philip  was  a  very  eminent  apostle  of 
freedom  on  that  occasion  ?" 

"  He  took  the  work  where  Vanderkemp  had  left 
it,  and  laboured  indefatigably  for  its  accomplish- 
ment, which  he  had  the  happiness  of  seeing  on  the 
17th  of  July,  1828.  Those  men  were  the  Clarkson 
and  the  Granville  Sharp  of  South  Africa,  and  if 
ever  the  book  of  fame  is  permitted  to  hold  the 
records  of  the  benefactors  of  the  black  races — " 

"Never  mind,"  said  Mr.  Owen;  "their  names 
are  written  elsewhere  and  for  a  nobler  reward." 

"As  to  reward,"  rejoined  the  missionary,  smil- 
ing, "it  seems  to  me  that  'the  far  more  exceeding 
and  eternal  weight  of  glory'  must  swallow  up  the 
slight  question  of  rewards.  Is  not  His  approba- 
tion enough — enough  ?" 

Those  men  looked  at  one  another,  and  felt  the 
eternal  brotherhood  of  Christ's  cause  linking  them 
more  strongly  than  could  aught  else.  Children  of 
God !  joint  heirs  of  glory !  Oh  well  might  they 
work  through  "the  little  while"  here  below,  for 
the  sake  of  that  beloved  Master  who  had  redeemed 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  255 

them  with  his  own  blood  and  made  them  kings 
and  priests  to  his  Father ! 

"  You  have  discouragements  in  the  work, 
brother?"  said  Mr.  Owen,  after  a  while. 

"  I  was  about  to  say  that  I  had  many,  but  I 
should  rather  say  that  so  much  the  more  have  my 
consolations  abounded  through  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Ah !  there  is  rare  pay  in  Christ's  service,  as  old 
Ilutherford  would  say !" 

"  Surely !"  responded  Mr.  Owen.  Back  upon 
his  own  soul  rushed  the  rich  tide  of  happy  feeling 
which  attends  effort  in  the  Lord's  cause. 

"  I  have  this  to  say,"  continued  the  other,  "  and 
now  I  am  old  and  gray-headed  in  the  service,  that 
not  for  earth's  most  brilliant  career  would  I  change 
the  obscure  and  toiling  lot  that  has  been  mine ! 
Do  you  know  that  at  first  it  was  not  so?" 

"How?" 

"  Though  I  was  a  true  Christian  and  had  thor- 
oughly devoted  myself  to  this  blessed  work,  I  took 
too  great  a  load  of  carefulness  upon  me  at  first.  I 
was  over-anxious  and  worried  myself  about  suc- 
cess ;  I  did  not  cast  this  care  also  upon  my  God.  I 
was  satisfied  enough  to  trust  to  him  for  daily  bread, 
but  not  for  the  results  of  my  teaching.  I  was 
fretful  because  I  did  not  see  conversions  at  once/' 


256  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Mr.  Owen  put  his  hand  over  his  inouth  in  an 
attitude  not  uncommon  to  him.  He  remembered 
very  much  the  same  state  of  feeling  in  himself. 

"Now  you  know,  dear  brother,  that  the  true 
secret  of  Christian  happiness  is,  in  all  things  to  be 
careful  for  nothing,  and  I  was  some  time  learning 
to  practice  it  here.  Perhaps  I  forgot  that  it  was 
not  promised  that  the  gospel  should  convert  every 
one  who  heard  it,  but  was  to  be  preached  'as  a 
witness'  to  all  nations  before  the  end  should  come, 
and  that  my  duty  was  simply  to  be  Christ's  mes- 
senger in  season  and  out  of  season,  leaving  results 
to  him." 

"You  are  able  to  do  it  now?" 

"  Oh  yes,  the  power  was  given  to  me ;  I  prayed 
for  it.  I  found  the  command,  'Let  the  peace  of 
God  rule  in  your  hearts,  and  be  ye  thankful.' 
Impatience  even  after  good  was  disobedience  to 
this  divine  order.  Oh  for  the  heart  of  a  child, 
the  trustfulness  of  a  child  in  all  things !" 

"But  you  have  seen  fruit,  brother?" 

"  Oh  yes.  The  most  where  I  have  upheld  Christ 
most  simply.  I  could  tell  you  many  stories  of 
this.  I  remember  one  chief,  on  hearing  the  gospel 
news  for  the  first  time,  exclaim,  "All  my  bones 
shake.  "Why  did  not  your  fathers  send  word  of 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  257 

these  things  to  my  fathers  sooner  ?  They  all  passed 
away  into  darkness.'  It  was  an  affecting  declara- 
tion of  a  solemn  truth,  and  I  thought,  '  How  guilty 
have  we  been  concerning  Africa !'  Those  simple 
words  were  as  a  stimulus  to  my  best  endeavours 
for  a  long  time." 

"I  can  imagine  it."  Mr.  Owen  described  his 
own  plan  of  itinerating  as  he  walked  about  Beth- 
elsdorp  with  the  pastor,  who  was  particularly 
proud  of  the  new  church  and  the  fine  stone  school- 
house  his  converts  had  built,  sixty  feet  by  twenty, 
and  showed  his  visitor  all  the  appliances  of  civil- 
ized society  which  had  arisen  under  their  hands. 
There  was  a  workhouse  for  the  poor,  pendent  to  a 
Hottentot  society  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  "and 
if  you  could  be  present  at  some  of  our  meetings, 
you  would  hear  excellent  speeches  from  Hottentot 
lips,"  said  the  missionary. 

"  I  heard  a  sermon  once  from  a  Caffre  catechist, 
than  which  I  could  hardly  hope  to  listen  to  a 
better,"  Mr.  Owen  remembered.  "  He  spoke  from 
the  first  part  of  the  fourteenth  of  John,  and  par- 
ticularly with  reference  to  the  apostle  Thomas  ask- 
ing the  way.  'Good  and  proper  was  it  that  he 
should  ask  his  way/  said  the  catechist.  'We  know 

the  way  to  the  Tugela  river,  or  to  the  Drakens- 
17 


258  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

berg  Mountains,  and  Thomas  wanted  to  know 
whither  his  Lord  was  going.  His  heart  had  not 
yet  understood  that  it  was  to  the  Father's  house — 
up,  up,  beyond  the  blue  sky.  And  are  not  our 
hearts  always  asking  the  way  ?  How  can  we  know 
the  way  ?  How  can  we  know  more  of  our  Father 
in  heaven,  so  as  to  be  his  entirely,  to  live  and  die 
for  him?'  Then  the  preacher  told  his  audience — 
who  listened  to  one  of  their  own  nation  with  the 
deepest  attention  —  that  saving  knowledge  of  the 
gospel  is  to  know  that  God  is  our  Friend  and 
Father,  through  Jesus  Christ.  '  Some  think  that 
God  is  dead/  he  added,  in  his  strong,  simple  lan- 
guage. 'They  think  that  he  made  everything  and 
then  died!  But  it  is  not  so.'  He  explained  to 
them  fully  the  results  of  free  gospel  grace,  guarding 
them  against  what  we  call  Antinomianism.  '  If 
we  do  the  works  of  the  flesh,  we  have  never  really 
known  our  Father.  Only  that  pleases  the  servant 
of  Christ  which  is  pure  and  holy  and  pleasing  to 
his  Father  in  heaven !  The  Holy  Spirit  teaches 
him  this.  Like  his  Lord,  his  heart  cannot  will 
evil.  Peace  and  joy  are  to  know  the  goodness  of 
God  as  set  forth  in  Jesus.'  There  could  not  be  a 
better  proclamation  of  the  leading  doctrines  of  our 
holy  faith,  and  the  man's  evident  earnestness  and 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  259 

sincerity  added  power  to  his  words.*  "With  what 
heartfelt  warmth  he  said,  '  Let  us  rejoice  ourselves 
a  little  with  gladdening  thoughts  of  our  Lord,  who 
is  ours,  and  all  things  are  his !' ' 

"  Yet  some  Englishmen  doubt  that  these  natives 
can  be  converted  ?" 

"  Yes,  those  who  know  not  the  converting  power 
themselves,"  returned  Mr.  Owen — "  none  others. 
And  it  is  little  wonder  that  they  disbelieve  the 
supernatural  operation  of  the  new  birth  unto 
righteousness.  We  have  the  highest  authority  for 
knowing  that 'the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the 
things  that  are  of  the  Spirit  of  God;  they  are  fool- 
ishness unto  him ;  neither  can  he  know  them,  be- 
eause  they  are  spiritually  discerned.'  r' 

"  Ay,  many  of  our  poor  Hottentot  converts  could 
teach  our  educated  and  intellectual  Europeans," 
said  the  pastor.  "  *  Not  many  wise  men  after  the 
flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble  are  called, 
but  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the 
world  to  confound  the  wise ;  and  God  hath  chosen 
the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the 
things  which  are  mighty ;  and  base  things  of  the 
world,  and  things  which  are  despised,  hath  God 
chosen/  " 

*  Reported  in  the  "Gospel  Missionary"  of  November,  1861. 


260  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  That  wondrous  Bible !  there  is  truth  in  it  for 
every  person  and  every  state,"  reflected  Mr.  Owen. 

Results  of  the  Bible  were  visible  oa  all  sides 
here,  for  fairly  might  this  term  be  applied  to  the 
rows  of  neat  cottages  and  even  handsome  brick 
houses,  the  stores  and  workshops,  the  gardens  and 
fields  of  Bethelsdorp.  The  Bible  had  been  the 
agent  of  civilization,  and  well  had  it  performed  its 
work. 

"  I  scarce  can  doubt  the  future  of  South  Africa 
if  the  natives  be  widely  taught  the  art  of  reading 
and  the  Bible  be  put  into  their  hands,"  Mr.  Owen 
observed. 

"  And  I  cannot  doubt  it  at  all,"  rejoined  the 
pastor.  "  Is  not  Christianity  equal  to  all  it  has  to 
do?  Of  course  there  will  be  unconverted  people 
in  scores,  as  in  Christian  England,  but  that  society 
will  be  framed  on  a  civilized  model,  and  that 
Christianity  will  permeate  the  land  before  the  close 
of  our  century — if  the  world  lasts  so  long — I  be- 
lieve. And  even  that  would  be  an  incalculable 
benefit." 

How  incalculable  those  will  reflect  who  read  the 
latest  book  of  South  African  journeyings  from  the 
pen  of  Mr.  Baldwin.  He  narrates  that  no  longer 
ago  than  1856,  in  his  travels  through  the  country 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  261 

of  the  Zulu  Giffres,  lie  came  upon  a  district  deso- 
lated by  tribal  war.  For  twelve  miles  the  air  was 
tainted  with  the  dead  !  They  lay  in  every  possible 
attitude — men,  women  and  children,  of  all  sizes 
and  ages.  "  I  saw  many  instances  of  mothers  with 
babes  on  their  backs,  the  assagai  having  passed 
through  both,  and  children  of  every  age  speared 
through  the  shoulders."  This  massacre  occurred 
quite  near  the  British  boundary,  the  river  Tugela, 
running  north  of  Natal.  Oh  when  will  English 
Christians  arouse  themselves  as  they  ought  and 
send  forth  that  blessed  gospel  to  these  perishing 
heathen  which  alone  is  able  to  save  both  body  and 
soul? 

Hundreds  of  Hottentots  assembled  for  the  eve- 
ning prayer.  The  dark-yellowish  faces  and  gleam- 
ing wide-apart  eyes  seemed  as  like  to  Mr.  Owen  as 
a  set  of  duplicates  ;  but  he  recollected  that  he  had 
thought  the  same  of  the  Caifres  when  first  he  ar- 
rived in  the  eastern  colony,  and  had  only  gradually 
come  to  distinguish  differences  of  physiognomy  and 
expression.  The  proceedings  of  the  evening  were 
interesting.  After  the  devotional  exercises  a  mis- 
sionary meeting  was  held,  and  some  dollars  were 
collected  for  the  good  cause — offerings  indeed  from 
the  need  and  the  necessaries  of  these  poor  people. 


262  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  But  you  may  do  more  good  than  even  by  giv- 
ing your  money,"  said  the  pastor,  '•  by  preaching 
the  Lord  Jesus  in  your  holy,  patient  lives.  Show 
all  the  other  Hottentots  that  you  are  happy  in  his 
love,  and  wanting  to  do  as  he  has  told  you  in  his 
word." 

As  they  were  addressed  thus,  Mr.  Owen  saw 
traces  of  emotion  in  many  a  brown  face;  and 
when  hymns  followed,  their  feelings  were  stili 
more  stirred.  Ah  !  to  see  the  ugly  African  coun- 
tenances— indicative  of  a  very  low  scale  of  hu- 
manity, saith  the  physiognomist  and  phrenologist 
— to  see  these  lit  up  with  a  gleam  of  divine  joy 
and  divine  peace,  sent  a  thrill  of  gladness  vibrat- 
ing to  Mr.  Owen's  heart. 

"  I  don't  place  too  much  stress  on  such  outwara 
manifestations,"  said  the  pastor  afterward.  "They 
have  naturally  warm  feelings,  easily  capable  of  ex- 
citement; and  though  it  is  delightful  to  see  the 
deadness  of  heathenism  breaking  up  thus,  still 
there  are  stony-ground  hearers,  not  a  few,  who  re- 
ceive the  word  with  joy  and  have  not  root  in 
themselves  after  all." 

"  It  strikes  me  that  we  British  Christians  ex- 
pect too  much  from  them,"  remarked  Mr.  Owen. 
"  We  forget  that  the  degradation  of  ages  is  upon 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  263 

them.  Their  thoughts  have  been  directed  to 
nothing  else  but  bodily  wants  from  generation  to 
generation.  Life  has  often  been  only  one  long 
struggle  for  food.  If  I  had  not  made  the  experi- 
ment myself,  I  should  scarcely  have  credited  the 
difficulty  of  getting  them  to  understand  anything 
spiritual." 

"  They  are  no  more  model  Christians  than  we 
are  at  home,  even  when  they  do  receive  the  gos- 
pel," added  the  pastor.  "  Their  characteristic 
faults  remain  to  a  considerable  degree — selfishness 
and  greediness,  even  as  characteristic  sins  remained 
among  the  polished  Greeks  to  whom  Paul  wrote 
his  Corinthian  epistles.  But  let  us  compare  them 
with  the  heathen  from  whom  they  sprang,  and  not 
with  our  civilized  home  community,  the  growth  of 
Christian  centuries,  and  then  note  the  change !" 

"  How  many  generations  of  Israel  were  cut  off 
for  unbelief!"  said  Mr.  Owen. 

He  saw  next  day  the  flourishing  schools,  where 
Hottentot  children  were  being  taught  and  trained 
— the  latter  even  more  than  the  former,  as  was 
needful.  The  commonest  processes  of  intellect 
were  so  mysterious  to  these  little  brown  beings 
with  the  monkey  faces !  As  for  the  rudiments  of 
arithmetic,  years  were  spent  in  the  mastery  of 


264  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

them — for  carrying  the  figure  in  simple  addition 
seemed  as  severe  a  mental  exercise  as  algebraic 
equations.  Still  they  were  making  progress,  and 
not  insensibly.  Good  habits  were  becoming  en- 
grafted ;  dormant  intelligence  was  drawn  forth — 
above  all,  gospel  truth  was  inculcated.  And  in 
such  schools  lies  the  hope  of  the  heathen. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

STARS    OF    THE    SOUTH. 

|ON'T  go  into  the  colony,"  had  said  the 
Bethelsdorp  pastor  to  his  young  brother  in 
the  ministry.  "A  well-organized  and  ef- 
ficient Dutch  Keformed  church  is  estab- 
lished there.  Why  enter  upon  other  men's 
labours  ?  Go  at  once,  since  God  has  given  you 
the  means  and  the  heart — go  at  once  to  the  un- 
taught millions  of  heathen  beyond." 

This  sound  advice  could  not  at  once  be  followed. 
Mr.  Owen's  knowledge  of  "the  click-clack  lan- 
guages," as  we  may  style  those  spoken  among  the 
Hottentots,  Bushmen,  Korannas  and  Namaquas, 
was  too  imperfect  as  yet  to  admit  of  his  doing 
good  among  them.  His  wagon  travelling  would 
be  a  time  of  study  while  he  coasted  the  colony 
westward,  where  his  acquaintance  with  Dutch 
could  be  turned  to  account ;  for  behind  him,  be- 
yond Grahamstown  and  in  Caffraria,  which  he  had 
hoped  would  be  the  scene  of  his  itinerating  la- 

265 


266  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

bours,  the  flames  of  war  rolled  over  ihe  land. 
British  troops  were  coming  from  the  Cape  to 
Algoa  Bay  to  help  to  quell  the  insurgents,  and 
this  unhappy  war  would  probably  suspend  mission- 
work  for  years. 

Mr.  Owen  laid  in  his  simple  stores  and  outfit  at 
Port  Elizabeth.  Some  biscuits,  a  few  pounds  of 
tea  and  sugar,  several  pounds  of  coffee — which  is 
found  the  most  refreshing  beverage  after  exposure 
to  the  sun — and  some  rice,  formed  his  stock  of 
provisions.  His  few  needful  books  and  changes 
of  linen  were  stowed  in  tin  boxes,  to  preserve  them 
from  devouring  ants.  Some  gunpowder  was  dis- 
posed about  in  parcels,  for  he  must  kill  game  occa- 
sionally, as  well  as  defend  himself  and  his  posses- 
sions against  wild  animals.  A  gypsy  tent,  with 
the  necessary  ropes  and  pegs,  weighing  altogether 
about  ten  or  twelve  pounds,  a  few  sheepskins  for 
bedding  and  blankets  to  wrap  in,  some  simple 
cooking  implements  and  a  box  of  tools,  were  all 
his  equipment. 

"  As  few  things  as  possible  is  the  best  policy, 
sir,"  remarked  Gilbert.  "  When  my  master  was 
first  going  on  the  trek,  he  thought  he  never  could 
gather  enough  home  comforts  round  him,  and 
many  a  thing  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  in  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  267 

desert  or  give  away  at  the  kraals  to  get  rid  of  it. 
But  I'll  tell  you  what,  sir,  you'll  meet  with  twice 
the  respect  travelling  this  way  in  your  own  wagon 
than  you  would  travelling  any  other  way." 

"  How  do  you  mean  ?"  asked  Mr.  Owen. 

"  Why,  sir,  the  natives  are  mighty  like  our  own 
poor  folks  at  home.  They  have  a  liking  for  rich 
people,  and  are  twice  as  ready  to  listen  to  'em  as  to 
the  man  who  comes  with  nothing  but  the  little 
Book  in  his  hand.  It's  no  harm  to  make  'em  re- 
spect you,  sir." 

Mr.  Owen  had  a  glimpse  of  this  world-wide 
characteristic  previously.  He  had  discerned  how 
fawning  and  servile  the  natives  could  be  to  a  per- 
son whom  they  deemed  wealthy.  "  Ah,"  thought 
he,  "  not  alone  in  Britain  is  the  golden  calf  wor- 
shipped to  this  hour !" 

His  followers  inspanned  for  the  first  stage  of 
their  journey  before  sunset.  The  gorgeous  au- 
tumnal afternoon  of  the  South  African  March  still 
lingered  in  the  heavens,  as  the  cumbrous  wagon 
treked  along  within  sight  of  the  blue  waters  of 
Algoa  Bay  and  the  low  hills  of  Albany  afar.  The 
white  town  of  Uitenhage  gleamed  in  the  distance 
before  they  had  quite  given  place  to  night,  and  the 
Southern  Cross  was  gliding  upward  through  the 


268  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

serene  air.  Mr.  Owen  watched  it,  as  he  walked, 
from  its  earliest  appearance  over  the  hills,  almost 
inverted,  a  very  cross  of  flashing  diamond-worlds. 
Did  he  not  remember  Constantine's  "  In  hoc  signo 
vinces,"  and  take  the  same  sign  for  his  own? 

And  gradually  through  the  dark  hours  that  glo- 
rious emblem  travelled  the  heavens,  straightening 
imperceptibly  along  the  curved  vault  till  midnight, 
when  it  lay  embossed  on  the  blue,  straight  ana 
central,  pointing  to  the  pole.  Opposite  were  the 
Magellanic  clouds,  those  two  mysterious  masses  of 
luminous  whiteness,  which  mariners  call  "  the 
coal-sacks,"  resembling  bits  of  the  Milky  Way 
gone  afloat  and  astray  in  the  atmospheric  ocean. 
There  was  no  moonlight  to-night  to  drown  them, 
and  so  they  stood  out  fair  and  clear  among  the 
multitude  of  stars  upon  which  our  northern  vision 
never  rests. 

Many  a  night  did  Mr.  Owen  gaze  upon  those 
wonderful  works  of  God  during  his  wanderings. 
Travelling  at  night  he  found  to  be  pleasantest 
while  in  a  known  country  and  during  the  hot 
season.  It  exhausted  men  and  animals  less  than 
toiling  along  through  the  broiling  noontide.  If 
possible,  he  always  outspanued  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  a  native  kraal,  and  went  there  to  hold  his 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  269 

worship,  asking  leave  previously  of  the  headman. 
Of  what  wretchedness  was  he  witness  often  on 
these  occasions! — physical  wretchedness,  only 
counterbalanced  by  the  far  worse  moral  misery. 

Looking  over  his  journal  years  subsequently, 
the  missionary  had  details  enough  to  fill  a  volume 
of  the  saddest  experiences  of  heathenism ;  and 
when  he  thought  of  the  great  pure  eye  of  God 
looking  straight  down  upon  all  the  abominations 
of  the  heathen  world,  upon  its  countless  deeds  of 
foulness,  cruelty,  bloodshed,  he  could  but  wonder 
at  the  divine  forbearance,  and  join  with  the  souls 
under  the  altar  in  their  yearning  cry,  "  How  long, 
O  Lord,  how  long?" 

We  can  but  glance  at  the  missionary  here  and 
there  during  his  tour  of  evangelizing.  Hardships 
and  troubles  he  met  with,  but  not  more  than  his 
cool  sense  had  reckoned  on  when  projecting  to 
itinerate  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  Generally  a 
disappointment  came  with  his  first  appearance,  for 
the  natives  thought  he  must  be  coming  to  trade. 
Was  he  not  from  that  unknown  white  man's  land 
where  beads  lay  on  the  shore  as  sand,  where  mus- 
kets grew  out  of  the  earth  as  trees,  where  cotton 
prints  came  out  of  the  water?  Such  was  their 
idea  of  manufactures.  And  what  business  had  he 


270  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

wandering  through  their  country  if  he  came  not  to 
trade  ? 

To  teach  them  what  should  happen  after  death 
and  how  to  be  happy  then  !  He  found  that  the 
old  text  of  the  apostles  was  best  here,  "  Jesus  and 
the  resurrection."  Several  times  was  the  appeal 
made  to  him,  as  to  the  Bethelsdorp  missionary, 
"Why  were  we  not  told  this  before?  Why  did 
our  fathers  die  in  darkness  ?" 

Mr.  Owen  found  abundance  of  work  among  the 
outlying  colonists  as  well ;  whole  families  living  so 
far  on  the  verge  of  civilization  that  a  Christian 
service  they  never  attended  or  could  attend.  In 
many  a  Boer's  barn  he  held  forth  to  a  motley 
assemblage  concerning  that  divine  love  and  faith 
which  filled  and  overflowed  his  own  being.  This 
was  one  secret  of  the  success  with  which  his  heart 
was  gladdened  at  times;  the  unmistakable  earnest- 
ness of  the  man,  his  vehement  belief,  could  not  but 
move  the  most  callous  of  his  listeners.  And  his 
own  faith  grew  by  the  exercise.  "  I  have  found  an 
ample  compensation  for  all  labours  and  pains,"  he 
could  say  in  after  years,  "  by  the  spiritual  joys  that 
visited  me  during  that  wilderness  life.  Commu- 
nion with  my  God  might  be  wellnigh  unbroken, 
and  the  oftener  I  went  over  the  foundations  of  our 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  271 

holy  religion,  the  more  I  dwelt  on  the  love  of  Jesus 
in  dying  for  us,  and  descanted  on  our  glorious 
prospects  in  the  resurrection,  the  nearer  I  felt  my 
own  soul  drawn  to  my  God ;  consequently  the  hap- 
pier I  became." 

Among  other  mission-stations  where  he  put  up 
occasionally  for  a  Sabbath  day,  Pacaltsdorp  came 
in  its  order.  He  remembered  to  have  read  in  the 
Jourueyings  of  the  Rev.  John  Campbell,  that 
truest  friend  and  benefactor  of  South  Africa,  how, 
upon  first  visiting  here,  on  the  invitation  of  Dik- 
kop,  the  chief,  so  wretched  was  the  kraal  that  a 
few  hundred  yards  away  no  trace  of  it  was  to  be 
seen,  but  miserable  creatures,  wrapped  in  tattered 
sheepskins,  seemed  to  emerge  from  holes  in  the 
earth.  They  besought  him  for  a  missionary,  say- 
ing they  wanted  to  be  taught  the  same  things  that 
white  people  knew — having  a  dim  perception,  poor 
savages !  that  thus  might  be  bridged  over  the  vast 
chasm  separating  them  from  the  clean  and  clothed 
European  gentleman  who  stood  among  them.  The 
missionary,  Mr.  Pacalt,  was  sent — one  of  those 
self-denying,  earnest  men  who  are  the  founders  of 
communities  and  the  regenerators  of  barbarism. 
And  when  John  Campbell  returned  after  a  few 
years,  what  did  he  behold  ?  Thus  he  writes  of  it : 


272  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  On  looking  round  from  my  wagon,  I  saw  that 
a  wall,  six  feet  high,  surrounded  the  whole  settle- 
ment, enclosing  gardens  which  had  an  excellent 
house  in  each ;  a  set  of  large  square  enclosures  for 
horse,  oxen  and  sheep  kraals,  six  feet  high,  with 
gates  to  each,  to  preserve  the  cattle  in  safety  during 
the  night ;  artificial  ponds  of  water  and  wells  ;  a 
church  capable  of  containing  two  hundred  people, 
and  which  is  also  used  on  week-days  as  a  school- 
house.  All  this,  effected  by  a  single  missionary  in 
the  short  space  of  six  years,  and  among  a  people 
unused  to  exertion,  was  truly  surprising." 

Furthermore,  on  Sunday  he  beheld  "the  Hot- 
tentots coming  to  worship  decently  dressed,  the 
women  in  white  and  coloured  calicoes,  the  men  in 
bluejackets,  some  in  leather  trousers — all  carrying 
their  Bibles  and  hymn-books  tinder  their  arms. 
The  alteration  was  surprising.  Sixty-four  persons 
in  the  settlement  could  read.  Seventy  children 
regularly  attended  the  school,  taught  by  a  Hot- 
tentot lad." 

More  than  twenty  years  afterward  Mr.  Owen 
saw  the  settlement,  when  most  of  the  original 
generation  of  converts  had  passed  away,  and  the 
children  had  grown  to  man's  estate,  well-clad, 
clean,  respectable,  educated  Hottentots,  who  shud- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  273 

dered  as  much  at  the  kraal  and  its  associations  as 
would  a  European.  The  same  experiment  only 
needs  to  be  repeated  on  a  larger  scale  all  over  Cape 
Colony  to  produce  the  same  blessed  results. 

So  thought  Mr.  Owen  as  he  was  escorted  out  of 
Pacaltsdorp  in  the  cool  of  the  Monday  evening  by 
a  score  of  these  dusky  brothers  in  the  faith,  singing 
hymns  as  they  went  to  the  praise  of  God. 

18 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE    BUSHMAN. 

[ARTHER  into  the  colony  than  Pacaltsdorp 
Mr.  Owen  did  not  want  to  go.  He  turned 
the  head  of  his  wagon  northward,  pur- 
posing to  travel  as  far  as  Namaqua-land, 
and  after  some  days'  treking  he  made  the  Zak 
river. 

Here  was  once  a  mission-station  which  appeared 
to  be  a  failure.  It  laboured  among  the  most  de- 
graded of  the  human  family,  the  Bushmen  of  the 
desert.  Its  history  is  brief  and  worth  knowing. 
There  was  a  farmer  named  Florus  Fischer,  who 
dwelt  on  the  limits  of  the  colony,  and  had  suffered 
much  from  the  depredations  of  those  wretched  no- 
mads, the  Bushmen.  He  was  a  person  who  feared 
God,  and  when  concluding  some  sort  of  agreement 
or  treaty  with  the  Bushmen,  in  virtue  of  which 
they  were  for  the  future  to  spare  his  flocks  and 
herds,  he  raised  up  his  hands  in  solemn  appeal  to 
the  Almighty  that  he  should  be  witness  to  the  en- 

274 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  275 

gagement.  This  gesture  struck  the  savages  with 
surprise,  and  further  they  were  curious  to  know 
why  the  Dutch  farmer  assembled  his  family  morn- 
ing and  evening  to  kneel  before  something' unseen. 
Mr.  Fischer  explained  to  them  the  cause  of  his 
worship,  and  they  asked  to  be  taught  about  God — 
the  white  man's  God. 

Could  they  have  a  white  teacher  ?  The  request 
was  so  urged  that  the  farmer  Fischer  felt  he  must 
make  some  exertion  in  the  matter.  He  took  two 
or  three  of  the  principal  Bushmen  with  him  to 
Cape-Town,  a  long  and  laborious  journey  of  almost 
five  hundred  roadless  miles.  Hardly  had  they  ar- 
arrived  before  a  ship  cast  anchor,  from  England, 
freighted  with  five  missionaries.  Two  of  these 
elected  to  proceed  with  Fischer  and  his  Bushmen 
into  their  wild  country ;  the  government  of  the  day 
helped  them  largely,  and  the  farmers  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood hailed  their  coming  with  joy.  They 
founded  a  settlement,  named  "  Happy  Prospect," 
and  began  to  labour  very  strenuously. 

They  were  puzzled  by  want  of  success.  Time 
has  revealed  to  us  now  the  secret  ends  to  be  served 
by  a  failure  which  seemed  to  them  most  grievous. 
The  Bushmen  were  intractable  as  the  baboons  on 
their  rocks;  they  harassed  Mr.  Kicherer  in  every 


276  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

way,  and  more  than  once  threatened  his  life.  His 
colleague,  Mr.  Kramer,  fared  no  better.  But  some 
Hottentots  at  the  station  were  converted,  and  tribes 
beyond -heard  of  the  gospel  who  never  otherwise 
would  probably  have  known  aught  about  it.  Na- 
maquas,  Korannas,  Griquas,  Bechuanas,  visited  the 
station  in  their  wanderings,  and  received  even  a 
momentary  gleam  from  the  light  there  set  up,  while 
the  Christian  public  at  home  learned  something 
about  them  and  their  needs. 

One  farmer  was  so  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the 
usefulness  of  the  work,  and  so  constrained  by  the 
love  of  his  Redeemer,  that  he  sold  all  his  posses- 
sions for  its  aid  and  laboured  in  it  himself  likewise. 
Yet  did  not  his  zeal  avail.  But  there  were  other 
causes  of  failure  than  the  stubbornness  of  savage 
natures.  The  ground  at  the  station  was  most 
Bterile  and  the  skies  were  rainless ;  nothing  would 
grow.  And  a  false  principle  had  been  adopted  of 
giving  food  and  tobacco  daily  to  the  congregations, 
•which  attracted  many  merely  temporary  auditors. 
And  when  the  largess  failed  the  listeners  fell  away. 
And  finally,  after  "  exemplary  patience,  great  pri- 
vations and  hardships  from  drought  and  from  the 
plundering  Bushmen,  the  missionaries  were  com- 
pelled to  abandon  the  station"  in  the  year  1806. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  277 

Some  of  them  retired  to  Graaff  Key  net,  with  certain 
of  their  people,  and  all  found  other  more  promis- 
ing fields  of  labour,  and  thus  "the  charity  which 
would  have  filled  a  pool  only,"  as  Bacon  hath  it, 
was  dispersed  in  fertilizing  streams  over  many 
lands. 

But  have  there  never  been  conversions  from 
among  these  wildest  of  human  beings?  The  Rev. 
A.  Faure,  minister  at  Graaff  Reynet,  wrote  to  the 
llev.  Dr.  Philip  :  "  Some  of  the  Bushmen  baptized 
by  Mr.  Erasmus  Smith,  at  Colesberg,  had  acquired 
very  rational  ideas  of  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion,  and  appeared  to  feel  its  constraining  influ- 
ence on  their  habitual  conduct.  They  were  zealous 
in  trying  to  convey  the  same  inestimable  blessing 
to  their  unhappy  countrymen,  who  live  without 
God  and  without  hope  in  the  world.  It  was  de- 
lightful to  hear  the  children  sing  the  praises  of 
Jehovah  and  to  witness  the  progress  they  made  in 
spelling  and  reading.  These  facts,  which  have 
come  under  my  own  observation,  prove  that  the 
conversion  of  this  race  of  immortal  beings  is  not 
impossible." 

Mr.  Owen's  meeting  with  some  of  this  degraded 
tribe  was  on  this  wise.  His  wagon  was  treking 
along  in  the  arid  neighbourhood  of  Zak  river, 


278  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

through  a  country  the  grass  of  which  seemed  ready 
to  crumble  into  powder,  and  which  was  sprinkled 
all  over  with  low,  bushy  clumps,  so  exactly  similar 
that  if  a  traveller  shut  his  eyes  for  miles,  on  open- 
ing them  again  he  could  fancy  himself  never  to 
have  moved  from  the  one  spot.  Most  of  these 
clumps  were  of  the  dreaded  "  wait-a-bit"  thorn : 
low  square-topped  dense  shrubs,  thickly  set  over 
with  double  rows  of  virulent  spines,  strong  enough 
to  pierce  and  tear  even  leathern  garments,  and 
having  somewhat  of  an  irritant  quality  sufficient  to 
rankle  the  wound  they  inflict.  But  truly  South 
Africa  is  a  laud  of  thorns;  Mr.  Owen  sometimes 
thought  that  in  every  sense  the  primeval  curse 
had  descended  most  heavily  upon  it  of  all  lands : 
"  Thorns  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee." 
Every  size  and  shape  of  thorn  is  perhaps  to  be 
found  in  the  arid  interior.  The  seed-vessels  of 
numbers  of  plants  are  scattered  by  these  append- 
ages. When  an  ox  in  the  span  fell  lame  the 
cause  was  probably  a  flat  fruit-capsule,  having  two 
thorns  set  upright  in  its  midst,  lodged  securely  in 
the  beast's  foot  and  requiring  careful  picking  out, 
and  more  than  once  that  an  ox  had  been  browsing- 

D 

in  the  dusty  grass  he  had  taken  a  miserable  mouth- 
ful of  the  grapple-plant  with  its  abundant  hooked 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  279 

spinas,  and  come  bellowing  in  helpless  pain  to  the 
foreloupers  and  cattle-rachters  to  be  relieved. 

Holes  of  the  aardvark,  or  Cape  ant-eater,  were 
scattered  about  among  these  endless  thorn-bushes, 
causing  some  carefulness  on  the  part  of  drivers  and 
guiders  of  the  team,  lest  a  leg  of  the  oxen  or  a 
wheel  of  the  vehicle  should  get  inserted.  Toward 
evening  the  travellers  saw  some  slight  variation  of 
the  landscape  in  the  shape  of  low  crags,  rising  bar- 
renly from  the  barren  waste,  and  did  not  outspan 
till  they  came  thither. 

Mr.  Owen  was  hacking  thorn  branches  with  an 
axe,  and  gathering  wood  for  the  nightly  fire,  as  well 
as  all  his  men  who  were  not  occupied  about  the 
cattle,  when  Sackaboni  with  his  usual  stealthy 
movements  touched  his  arm. 

"  Bushmen !"  and  made  a  sign  that  his  master 
should  follow.  But  he  led  him  no  farther  than  to 
a  near  crag,  and  pointed  to  some  figures  drawn 
with  a  sort  of  ochre  on  the  rock ;  figures  of  animals 
—  antelopes  and  lions  chiefly — sketched  with  a 
spirit  and  correctness  which  quite  surprised  the 
European. 

"But  where  are  the  people  who  did  this?" 

Sackaboni  could  not  tell;  there  was  no  spoor, 
and  he  went  peering  about  on  the  sandy  spaces  be- 


280  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

tween  the  bushes.  Certainly  had  trace  of  human 
footsteps  existed,  the  lynx-eye  of  the  Caffre  boy 
would  have  detected  it.  He  only  knew  that  Bush- 
men had  been  to  the  spot  some  time  or  other,  and 
had  made  these  pictures  on  the  rocks.  The  mark- 
ings looked  sufficiently  recent  to  have  been  to-day's 
work,  but  this  was  no  means  of  guessing  the  date 
in  the  rainless  climate  of  the  district. 

Mr.  Owen  had  his  doubts  of  their  origin. 

"  Could  they  have  been  sketched  by  Bushmen  ?" 
he  asked  of  Gilbert.  "  It  seems  impossible  that 
such  savages  should  draw  so  well !" 

"  Oh  yes,"  was  the  carpenter's  answer.  He  had 
often  seen  similar  tracings  up  country,  and  once 
been  in  a  cave  where  the  sides  were  covered  with 
reddish  outlines  of  men  and  animals — a  cave  where 
Bushmen  lived.  As  to  seeing  nobody  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, it  was  no  reason  for  doubting  the  vicin- 
age of  Bushmen ;  they  were  exceedingly  shy,  and 
would  certainly  hide  if  they  saw  the  wagon  coming. 

That  night  the  moon  was  at  the  full,  and  glorious 
as  only  a  moon  over  the  desert  can  be,  for  nowhere 
else  is  the  atmosphere  so  free  from  haze  or  damp, 
reflecting  every  ray  with  astonishing  vividness. 
When  the  oxen  were  kraaled  for  the  night,  Sacka- 
boni,  usually  foremost  in  every  labour,  was  missing. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  281 

Mr.  Owen  was  disposed  to  be  concerned  at  his  ab- 
sence, having  a  dread  of  wilderness  lions ;  but  Gil- 
bert, who  knew  the  boy's  nature  thoroughly,  made 
light  of  it.  "He  will  turn  up,  sir,  never  fear;  he's 
gone  on  some  fancy  of  his  own ;  maybe  after  wild 
honey  or  the  like,  as  he  did  before."  For  once, 
when  Sackaboni  had  heard  the  persevering  twitter* 
ing  call  of  the  honey-bird  in  a  wooded  country,  he 
had  followed  the  invitation  for  a  couple  of  miles 
away  from  the  wagon,  and  returned  laden  with  the 
treasured  sweet  to  his  master;  having  given,  of 
course,  the  best  piece  of  comb  as  fee  to  his  guide — 
without  which  deference  the  natives  conceive  that 
the  affronted  honey-bird  would  never  point  out 
another  bee's  nest. 

"Ay,"  observed  Mr.  Owen,  "that  was  a  move- 
ment of  unselfishness  in  the  lad  which  gave  me 
great  hope  of  him.  Now,  I  fancy  that  Hotten- 
tot Jan  would  have  devoured  the  whole  of  the 
spoil." 

"  Well,  sir,  he's  more  of  an  animal-like  than  the 
Caffre  lad.  But  'twould  surprise  you,  sir,  how 
much  of  what  you  say  at  evening  prayers  he  re- 
members, for  all  that !  and  he's  the  nicest  singer 
of  hymns  in  the  whole  lot.  I  think  them  Hotten- 
tots has  a  natural  ear  for  music,  somehow." 


282  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Everybody  had  turned  in  before  Sackaboni  ar- 
rived. 

"  Bushmen  !"  he  said  again.  "  Sackaboni  found 
out  Bushmen."  And  he  clapped  his  hands,  his 
parted  lips  revealing  two  exquisite  rows  of  teeth. 
"Sackaboui  right;  Bushmen  draw  pictures  on 
rock." 

He  had  evidently  gone  to  seek  confirmation  of 
the  truth  of  his  own  statement,  having  seen  that 
his  master  doubted  it ;  and  the  Caffre  boy  had  lat- 
terly become  anxious  to  establish  a  reputation  for 
saying  only  what  was  fact — another  symptom  of 
moral  improvement,  for  in  general  falsehood  is 
only  fun  to  his  race. 

Mr.  Owen  was  so  anxious  to  behold  these  Bush- 
men that  he  resolved  to  follow  the  boy,  contrary  to 
Gilbert's  representations,  who,  when  he  found  his 
dissent  of  no  avail,  took  down  his  short  gun  from 
the  branch  where  it  hung  and  went  after  his  master 
noiselessly. 

They  made  a  compass  by  the  outside  of  the  crags, 
in  full  moonlight,  which  marked  very  pronounced 
shadows  of  them  on  the  sand  and  shrubs. 

"  No  lions ;  too  much  moon,"  was  Sackaboni's 
comfortable  remark.  Even  the  jackal's  voice  was 
silent;  far  and  near  the  great  waste  was  still, 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  283 

until  they  were  coming  round  the  rocks,  entering 
a  sort  of  low  gorge,  when  a  faint  musical  sound 
began  to  make  itself  heard  fitfully  on  the  air. 

"  The  gorah,"  whispered  Sackaboni — "  Bushmen 
dancing." 

The  Europeans  proceeded  very  gently  toward  the 
scene  of  the  poor  savages'  gayety ;  for  Gilbert  re- 
membered the  sudden  and  swift  poisoned  arrows 
which  they  possess,  and  believed  concealment  the 
best  policy  at  present.  Soon  Sackaboni  put  his 
hand  on  his  mouth  and  stopped  short,  pointing 
upward  with  the  other  hand.  The  defile  was  in 
deep  shadow,  but  above,  on  the  rocks,  was  the 
gleam  of  a  fire  red  in  the  moonbeams,  and  several 
black  figures  were  passing  about.  Distorted  figures 
they  seemed  to  be  in  outline — squat  shapes,  hollow 
in  the  back,  disproportionately  thin  in  the  limbs — 
realizing  what  Mr.  Owen  had  heard,  that  Bushmen 
were  the  ugliest  of  human  kind. 

A  little  farther  on  and  the  white  men  had  a 
better  view,  themselves  still  unseen.  Some  ex- 
travagant mirth  seemed  to  possess  the  poor  crea- 
tures at  whom  they  gazed;  it  was  as  if  the  moon- 
light had  intoxicated  them.  They  bounded  and 
shouted  and  executed  figures  the  most  extraordi- 
nary, while  the  few  plaintive  notes  of  the  gorah 


284  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

echoed  like  a  contrast.  Sackaboni's  nostrils  sniffed 
an  odour  of  meat  imperceptible  to  those  of  his 
companions. 

"Kill  antelope,"  said  he;  "great  flesh-eating." 

This  explained  their  enthusiastic  joy. 

"  Ay,  sir,"  quoth  Gilbert,  in  a  whisper,  "  they'll 
go  on  in  this  way  so  long  as  the  flesh  lasts.  I've 
known  them  dance  till  dawn  of  a  moonlit  night, 
when  perhaps  they'll  starve  the  week  after." 

The  reflection  upon  their  real  misery  in  contrast 
with  their  exuberant  animal  merriment  caused  the 
deepest  sadness  to  the  missionary.  His  heart 
yearned  over  these  poor  degraded  immortals. 
"  Going  down  into  darkness,"  he  murmured.  "  O 
Lord  of  the  harvest,  wilt  thou  not  send  labourers 
into  thine  harvest !" 

Next  day,  when  he  went  again  to  the  same  spot, 
and  even  scaled  the  rocks  to  their  eyrie,  no  Bush- 
men were  visible  —  only  a  circle  of  gray  ashes 
where  the  fire  had  been,  and  a  set  of  well-picked 
bones  lying  about.  Sackaboni  began  to  trace  some 
almost  imperceptible  marks  of  footsteps,  and  after 
a  while  led  his  master  to  a  sort  of  hollow  among 
the  bushes  at  the  foot  of  the  crags,  little  larger 
than  an  ostrich's  nest,  over  which  the  bushes  had 
been  drawn  to  meet  at  the  top.  The  lair  was  of 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  285 

dried  grass,  and  had  evidently  been  lately  lain 
upon.  That  a  human  habitation  ! 

The  prying  of  the  Caffre  boy  soon  found  another 
such  in  a  fissure  of  the  rocks.  No  words  could 
portray  the  misery  and  degradation  of  the  Bush- 
man race  so  forcibly  as  the  sight  of  these  dens. 
Mr.  Owen  could  readily  have  believed  that  they 
were  jackal's  holes.  Sackaboni's  quick  eye  was 
attracted  by  some  small  object  among  the  grass. 

He  picked  up  a  little  arrow,  sharpened  from  a  por- 

• 

cupine's  quill.  The  point  had  a  slight,  dark  in- 
crustation about  it — the  celebrated  poison.  He 
made  gestures  of  abhorrence  and  fear,  and  wanted 
to  bury  it  deep  in  the  sand. 

"  Isn't  it  wonderful,  sir,"  remarked  Gilbert, 
"how  these  miserable  Bushmen,  that  have,  you 
may  say,  no  defence,  have  been  able  to  acquire  the 
power  to  make  this  awful  poison,  that  one  drop  of 
it  will  kill  the  biggest  beast  in  the  forest  ?  Only 
for  it  I  don't  know  how  they'd  get  fed,  and  as  it  is 
I  believe  numbers  of  'em  die  of  starvation  every 
year." 

"  There  appears  to  be  something  moving  in  the 
bushes  yonder,"  said  Mr.  Owen,  as  they  walked 
down  the  defile  to  the  place  of  outspan — "  at  least, 
I  saw  a  stir — " 


286  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  I  don't  much  like  them  suspicious  stirs,"  ob- 
served Gilbert,  gazing  steadily  in  the  direction 
indicated;  "but  lions  don't  be  abroad  in  the 
morning — " 

Sackaboni  ran  out  of  the  very  copse  at  which 
they  were  looking,  and  clapping  his  hands,  "Bush- 
man !"  said  he,  with  demonstrations  of  joy  which 
showed  there  was  nothing  to  fear.  They  found 
another  of  the  nest-like  holes  under  a  thorn,  with 
crouching  therein  a  wretched  old  man,  the  wool 
on  his  head  grizzled,  the  bones  actually  starting 
through  his  brown  shrivelled  skin,  and  unmis- 
takable terror  depicted  on  his  half-human  fea- 
tures. He  made  some  pitiable  moaning  noise, 
and  stretched  forth  his  lean  arms  in  a  supplicating 
gesture. 

"  My  friend,"  said  Mr.  Owen,  in  the  best  Hot- 
tentot he  could  command,  "we  will  do  you  no 
harm ;"  but  the  kindly  smile  which  accompanied 
the  unknown  words  translated  his  feelings  into 
nature's  own  language,  and  was  understood  by  the 
miserable  savage.  The  white  man  reached  forth 
his  hand,  and  this  human  brother  touched  it  tim- 
idly with  the  tips  of  his  bony-knotted  fingers. 
Then  the  travellers  stood  looking  at  him. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

THE    CHRYSALIS. 

Y  judgment   is,"  said    Gilbert,   after  some 
pondering,  "  that  they've  left  him  here  to 
die  or  be  devoured,  for  he's  past  his  work 
through  either  old  age  or  sickness,  and  there's 
no  natural  affection  among  these  savages,  sir !" 

It  seemed  highly  probable  that  such  was  the 
case.  They  had  seen  the  wagon  at  morning  light, 
perhaps,  and  had  decamped  in  a  fright. 

"  Go,"  said  Mr.  Owen  to  the  Caffre  boy,  "  and 
bring  this  poor  man  some  of  the  bil-tong  that 
hangs  outside  the  tilt." 

Then  was  all  the  animal  revealed.  The  famish- 
ed creature  threw  himself  on  the  dried  meat  with 
a  sort  of  howl,  and  tore  it  to  pieces  with  teeth  and 
fingers  in  a  few  moments. 

"  They  gave  him  none  of  their  feast  last  night," 
said  Gilbert.  "  I've  heard  tell  that  they're  very 
cruel  to  each  other,  and  'specially  to  their  children. 
Why,  sir,  my  master  and  I  picked  up  a  poor  little 

287 


288  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

infant  of  two  years  old,  whom  they  were  just  going 
to  bury  in  its  mother's  grave  because  it  wasn't  old 
enough  to  shift  for  itself!  My  master  grew  quite 
fond  of  the  little  beggar  afterward,  for  'twould 
follow  him  about  like  a  dog,  but  the  father  claimed 
him  one  day  when  he  was  a  likely  chap,  mayhap  a 
year  afterward,  and  my  master  had  to  give  him  up 
sooner  than  breed  ill-feeling." 

The  strip  of  dried  meat  was  finished,  and  the 
bony  Bushman  dragged  himself  to  Mr.  Owen's  feet, 
feeling  his  ox-hide  boots  and  pressing  his  lips  to 
them  as  in  testimony  of  gratitude. 

"He  wants  more,"  was  Gilbert's  translation. 
"Mayhap  he  could  pull  himself  along  to  the 
camp,"  and  the  carpenter  made  signs  to  him  with 
that  signification. 

"  There  is  some  human  feeling  in  the  poor  crea- 
ture/' said  Mr.  Owen — "  something  like  thankful- 
ness." 

"Oh,  sir,  I've  seen  more  than  that  in  Bushmen," 
answered  Gilbert.  "  They're  hospitable  after  their 
own  fashion." 

"  Hospitable !"  The  missionary's  eyes  rested  on 
the  lair  which  was  the  Bushman's  idea  of  house 
and  home. 

"  Well,  sir,  'tisn't  much  they've  got  to  be  hos- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

pitable  about,  but  tbey  are  not  entirely  such  selfisb 
beings  as  you'd  be  apt  to  fancy.  They'll  divide 
the  smallest  bit  of  food  with  their  friends,  and 
perhaps  the  one  who  got  it  will  keep  the  least 
share  for  himself.  I've  seen  this,  sir,  and  the 
whites  might  imitate  it  sometimes." 

Some  of  the  Caffre  and  Hottentot  followers 
brought  the  disabled  Bushman  to  the  wagon, 
which  was  now  ready  to  start,  after  the  usual 
shouting  and  racket  of  inspanning  the  fourteen 
oxen.  The  old  man  seemed  frightened  at  first, 
and  could  not  be  persuaded  to  sit  on  the  board  at 
Jan  the  driver's  feet,  but  neither  would  he  be  left 
behind.  He  squatted  on  the  sand  by  the  expiring 
fire,  and  cried  dismally,  expressing  his  apprehen- 
sion of  lions,  as  said  yellow  Jan,  until  a  huge 
Caffre,  April  by  name,  and  one  of  the  cattle-rach- 
ters,  seized  him  bodily  in  his  arms,  and  running 
after  the  wagon  as  lightly  as  if  the  old  man  were 
five  pounds'  weight,  deposited  him  in  the  place 
pointed  out  by  Mr.  Owen  beneath  the  driver's  seat. 
There  he  remained,  moaning  and  cowering,  and 
watching  all  passing  objects  with  the  fearfulness 
of  one  who  had  never  been  on  a  vehicle  before,  and 
does  not  in  the  least  understand  why  the  bushes 
and  crags  glide  slowly  by. 

19 


290  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  There's  some  of  them  creatures  in  every  part 
of  South  Africa  where  I've  been,  sir,"  remarked 
Gilbert,  shouldering  his  short  gun  as  he  walked 
along;  "only  they're  called  different  names  in 
different  places.  The  Bechuanas  always  call  them 
Balala,'  and  in  the  desert  westward  they're  '  Ba- 
kalahari.'  I  don't  deny  but  these  differ  some 
ways  from  Bushmen,  being  tall  and  dark  and 
better  off  a  trifle,  for  they'll  keep  goats  and  hoe 
up  half  an  acre  of  ground  sometimes ;  but  still 
they're  hunted  by  every  man,  like  Ishmael.  It's 
my  thought  that  they're  a  tribe  driven  out  of  their 
own  lands;  and  I  know  the  farmers  used  to  be 
very  cruel  to  them  and  treat  them  as  if  they  were 
weasels  or  badgers." 

"Were  you  ever  at  the  Caledon  river,  where 
Kok  founded  a  mission  for  them  ?" 

"Mayhap  it's  what's  now  called  Bethulie,  where 
the  French  missionaries  have  gathered  a  great 
number  of  converted  Bechuanas?  We  stopped 
there  for  a  day,  my  master  and  I,  two  years  ago, 
going  up  country;  but  because  my  master  did  not 
find  everything  like  a  Europe  town,  he  was  set 
against  their  having  done  any  good  at  all,  and  I 
was  the  same  way  of  thinking  myself  then.  I 
think  there  were  not  more  than  half  a  dozen  Bush- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  291 

men  iu  the  place,  as  I  remember.  Ah,  sir,  'twill 
be  very  hard  ever  to  get  the  heathenish  ways  out 
of  them — leastways  the  grown-up  ones." 

"  The  grace  of  God  can  do  it,"  said  the  mission- 
ary, with  his  bright,  trustful  smile;  and  then  he 
raised  his  voice  in  the  desert  to  sing  : 

"  O  God,  our  help  in  ages  past, 

Our  hope  for  years  to  come, 
Our  shelter  from  the  stormy  blast, 
And  our  eternal  home  !" 

His  camp-followers  took  up  the  strain,  and  sang 
to  it  the  words  of  a  native  hymn  which  he  had 
taught  them.  In  general,  the  metres  which  suit 
the  rhythm  of  the  language  are  what  we  techni- 
callly  call  "  sevens,"  which  are  exemplified  in 
"  Greenland's  icy  mountains,"  and  in  words  fitting 
to  "  Rousseau's  Dream ;"  hence  these  tunes  become 
immediate  favourites  with  the  native  congregations 
in  South  Africa.  Mr.  Owen  remembered  to  have 
heard  a  native  teacher  say  that  "  hymns  brought 
grace,"  quickening  and  impressing  religious  feel- 
ings, and  he  was  inclined  to  make  much  use  of 
them  in  the  instruction  of  his  Caffres.  He  had 
taught  them  many,  to  supplant  their  monotonous 
heathen  chants ;  and  it  beguiled  the  tedium  of  the 


292  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

long  day's  trek  to  hear  these  songs  of  Zion  re- 
sounding over  the  wilderness. 

He  found  it  necessary  also  to  teach  each  of  his 
Catfres  a  prayer — a  short,  simple  form  of  words 
with  which  to  approach  the  Most  High  God. 
Their  ideas  were  so  slowly  brought  to  any  appre- 
hension of  "  things  unseen  and  eternal"  that  had 
he  waited  for  the  spontaneous  utterance  of  prayer 
he  might  have  waited  for  ever.  Each  word  of  the 
petitions  he  explained  night  after  night  as  simply 
as  he  could.  He  found  that  every  faculty  of  his 
mind  was  tasked  for  this  simplicity,  arid  all  the 
resources  of  his  imagination  at  work  for  the  illus- 
trations imperatively  required  by  the  savage  un- 
derstanding. 

The  Bushman  whom  they  had  picked  up  helped 
him  to  an  apt  illustration  a  few  days  subsequently. 
Abundance  of  good  food  had  restored  wonderful 
strength  to  the  old  man,  the  shrivelled  skin  seemed 
already  filling  up  with  flesh  and  muscle.  He 
hunted  everywhere,  himself,  poor  old  creature,  for 
the  garbage  on  which  his  race  subsists — the  larv« 
of  insects,  the  gum  of  acacias,  the  roots  of  ixias 
and  wild  garlic,  the  flesh  of  serpents  and  lizards, 
being  some  of  his  delicacies.  And  still,  however 
he  might  roam  from  the  wagon  during  the  day- 


THE  FOUN1AIN  KLOOF.  293 

time,  he  always  appeared  again  at  the  outspan, 
banging  on  the  edge  of  the  circle  of  garrulous  ser- 
vants, picking  the  bones  and  eating  the  scraps  they 
rejected,  as  well  as  consuming  his  own  share  of  the 
"  bil-tong"  or  dried  meat,  or  of  the  fresh  game — 
whichever  the  fare  might  happen  to  be.  In  fact, 
eating  appeared  to  be  the  sole  business  of  the  sav- 
age's existence.  He  had  woven  a  sort  of  grass 
basket  for  himself,  whence  he  unshipped  his  mis- 
cellaneous assortment  of  prey  each  evening,  and 
little  of  the  items  remained  by  morning  light. 

Mr.  Owen,  looking  on,  saw  that  he  had  bagged 
a  number  of  the  huge  caterpillars  considered  edible 
by  the  natives.  But  from  them  the  Bushman 
picked  out  two  or  three,  with  manifest  disgust, 
which  were  too  far  gone  in  the  chrysalis  stage  to 
meet  his  view's  of  good  eating.  The  missionary 
reached  forth  his  hand  for  these  rejected  ones. 
The  text  of  what  a  sermon  would  they  make ! 

He  remembered  having  heard  a  Caffre  teacher, 
speaking  of  the  resurrection,  use  the  following 
striking  words.  An  unbeliever  had  said  to  him, 
"  If  it  were  true  what  you  say,  why  does  not  God 
raise  a  person  from  the  dead  and  send  him  to  us, 
to  convince  us  us  that  your  words  are  true  ?  This 
would  frighten  us  and  compel  us  to  believe."  He 


294  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

answered :  "  God  has  done  so.  You  see  me  and 
other  believers7' — naming  some  native  Christians — 
"you  know  our  works,  how  we  went  with  you  and 
led  you  into  evil.  We  were  then  dead  in  sin — • 
dead  in  darkness.  God  has  raised  us  to  life  by 
his  Word  and  Spirit.  Now  we  live.  We  cannot 
live  any  more  as  we  used  to  do;  we  cannot  go  with 
you  in  sin  now.  We  are  changed ;  we  are  created 
anew;  God  has  raised  the  dead,  yet  you  do  not 
believe !" 

Now,  this  very  telling  sort  of  evidence  was  not 
yet  in  Mr.  Owen's  reach :  the  pleading  the  cause 
of  the  unknown  resurrection  from  analogy  with  the 
known  regeneration.  But  he  thought  the  illustra- 
tion from  the  chrysalis,  which  the  natives  had  all 
often  seen  and  the  history  of  which  they  knew, 
might  put  the  grand  truth  in  a  fresh  light  before 
their  eyes. 

Accordingly,  at  evening  worship  he  translated 
for  them  a  few  verses  of  Paul's  chapter  about  the 
resurrection  in  First  Corinthians,  and  proceeded  to 
explain  what  seemed  so  incredible  to  them  by  the 
analogy  of  this  dead-looking  pupa.  Could  they 
ever  think  that  from  its  thick,  brown  case, 
withered  and  dead,  would  emerge  a  beautiful 
bright-painted  butterfly  ?  Yet  they  knew  that  if 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  295 

left  a  few  days  untouched  this  would  happen. 
They  knew  that  it  had  been  living,  now  seemed 
actually  dead,  yet  would  live  again  a  better  and 
higher  life  than  ever  before!  For  whereas  it  had 
crept  along  the  earth,  it  would  then  soar  into  the 
air ;  and  whereas  it  had  seemed  to  eat  the  dust,  it 
would  suck  the  honey  out  of  the  hearts  of  flowers, 
and  fly  aloft  when  it  pleased  toward  the  sun ! 

A  hum  of  approbation  from  his  auditors  testified 
to  Mr.  Owen  that  his  illustration  was  compre- 
hended. With  many  gesticulations,  the  Hottentot 
Jan  taught  it  to  the  crouching  Bushman,  who 
seemed  the  veriest  animal  beside  even  him.  He 
alone  could  understand  or  give  utterance  to  the 
few  wretched  gutturals  which  formed  the  Bush- 
man's vocabulary,  and  in  which  there  was  an  utter 
want  of  terms  to  express  any  spiritual  meaning. 

Was  not  the  latter  himself  the  chrysalis  of  a 
civilized  being  ?  Every  power  dormant,  paralyzed, 
except  what  was  actually  required  for  the  supply 
of  food,  yet  possessing  the  germs  of  an  awful  im- 
mortality. It  was  a  humiliating  lesson  of  the  lit- 
tleness of  man.  And  the  apostle's  words  came  to 
the  missionary's  mind :  "  Who  maketh  thee  to 
differ  from  another?  and  what  hast  thou  that 
thou  didst  not  receive?" 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

IN    THE   THIRST-LAND. 

HE  ground  was  baked  white  and  hard  lay 
the  scorching  sunbeams  from  a  great  cloud- 
?L  less  heaven.  Now  Mr.  Owen  understood 
the  strong  imagery  of  the  Old  Testament — 
"the  skies  above  thee  as  brass,  the  earth  under 
thee  as  iron."  Burnished  metal,  glowing  from  fur- 
nace heat,  could  not  be  more  unpromising  of  mois- 
ture than  the  blue  vault  in  which  stood  and  glared 
the  sun.  And  so  unyielding  was  the  soil  that  he 
remarked  how  the  heavy  wagon-wheels  and  hoofs 
of  oxen  left  no  spoor  whatever,  no  more  than  if 
they  had  verily  travelled  over  rock. 

It  was  not  an  inviting  country,  but  they  must 
traverse  a  belt  of  it  in  order  to  reach  certain 
mission-stations  among  the  Namaquas.  Their  old 
Bushman  had  decamped  in  the  night  when  they 
entered  upon  it,  and  was  seen  no  more.  Mr.  Owen 
had  been  very  kind  to  him,  had  given  him  some 
few  articles  of  clothing,  which  he  wore  for  a  day  or 

296 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  297 

two  with  bad  grace,  and  generally  in  totally  wrong 
positions,  and  which  were  found  after  he  had  gone 
in  a  heap  beside  the  temporary  ox-kraal.  A  wild 
man  he  had  proved  in  reality. 

"  I'm  afraid  you  might  as  well  try  and  make  an 
abiding  impression  on  the  sand  of  the  Karroo,  sir, 
as  on  a  grown  Bushman's  heart  or  mind.  They  are 
dead,  sir,"  emphatically  remarked  Gilbert.  "  Their 
feelings  have  never  been  stirred  up  or  brought  out 
since  they  were  born ;  they  have  no  domestic  affec- 
tions, so  far  as  I  can  see ;  they  murder  their  chil- 
dren or  wives  in  a  fit  of  anger,  just  as  a  beast 
would.  God  help  us !  a  Bushman  is  a  humbling 
sight  for  human  nature.  What  we'd  come  to  if 
left  to  ourselves !" 

Now,  the  thirst-land  was  not  only  burning  hot 
by  day,  but  bitter  cold  at  night.  "  In  the  day  the 
drought  consumed  us,  and  in  the  night  the  frost," 
could  our  travellers  have  said.  They  built  up 
large  fires  and  wrapped  themselves  in  blankets  and 
sheepskins,  yet  found  the  change  of  temperature 
during  the  dark  hours  almost  intolerable.  Shortly 
after  the  sun  had  risen  the  air  felt  like  the  breath 
of  an  oven,  and  so  on  till  evening  again. 

"  Why  does  the  wagon  labour  and  strain  so 
much,  here,  I  wonder  ?"  said  Mr.  Owen ;  "  all  the 


298  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF, 

grease  you  put  on  the  wheels  does  not  seem  to  re- 
lieve their  stiffness.  I  suppose  it  must  be  the  dry- 
ness  of  the  air.  I  can  see  the  old  wood  splitting 
in  different  places." 

"Exactly  so,  sir;  why,  my  gunstock  has  some 
signs  of  a  warp.  Wood  that's  seasoned  for  all  the 
world  over  besides  shrinks  in  this  interior  air.  I 
b'lieve  it  sometimes  doesn't  rain  for  five  years !" 

"  No  wonder  for  the  grass  to  be  like  dust  and 
the  earth  like  stone,"  rejoined  the  missionary. 
"  One  would  value  the  common  mercies  of  home 
and  of  England  rather  more  than  usual  for  a  short 
run  of  privations  in  South  Africa." 

"  We're  two  days  on  the  thirst-land  now,  sir, 
and  I  don't  see  any  sign  of  nearing  the  edge.  I 
hope  that  black  chap  knows  where  he's  bringing 
us." 

"Have  you  doubts  about  him?" 

"  Well,  sir,  he  walks  forward  very  confident, 
like  a  drum-major  in  front  of  us  all,  and  looks 
knowing  enough,  but  his  landmarks  I  can't  im- 
agine, for  there's  no  more  horizon  than  the  sea 
has ;"  and  Gilbert  waved  his  hand  circularly  toward 
the  great  sphere  of  land  ^hut  down  upon  by  the 

"  Certainly  the  naf  ives  can  perceive  indications 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  299 

where  our  civilized  senses  perceive  none,"  said  his 
master.  "  He  could  have  no  motive  for  deceiving 
us  by  undertaking  to  guide  where  he  was  not  able." 

"  No  wonder  for  me  to  be  uneasy,  sir,"  rejoined 
Gilbert,  apologetically,  "  when  the  large  keg  and 
two  of  the  calabashes  are  empty  already,  and  the 
oxen  on  the  shortest  allowance  of  water  possible." 

"  Poor  things !  it  is  pitiful  to  hear  them  lowing 
of  an  afternoon.  You  ought  to  send  some  of  the 
fellows  scouring  for  spoor  in  all  directions." 

It  was  done ;  and  then  at  nightfall  was  an  hour 
spent  in  firing  blank  discharges  of  powder  to  recall 
stragglers  and  guide  them  by  the  ear  to  the  place 
of  outspan.  For  the  country  was  so  similar,  every 
clump  of  thorns  so  like  every  other  clump  of 
thorns,  that  to  be  lost  was  easy,  even  for  a  native. 

Their  water-vessels  were  curious ;  besides"  those 
previously  mentioned,  were  some  huge  ox-horns, 
well  stopped  at  the  broad  end,  and  a  number  of 
the  paunches  of  animals,  which  form  by  far  the 
coolest  receptacles  in  that  burning  climate.  Eu- 
ropean fastidiousness  must  yield  to  necessity  in 
many  matters  such  as  this. 

"What  has  the  Tottie  (Hottentot)  Kleinveld 
done  with  that  great  bag  of  water  he  used  to 
carry?"  asked  Gilbert  on  one  occasion. 


300  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  Mas'r,"  and  Sackaboni's  eyes  twinkled  with 
fun,  "  him  drink  all  water ;  him  roast  bag  at  fire, 
him  eat  up." 

Thus  was  the  water-vessels  utilized  when  empty, 
and  at  the  next  spring  or  vley  the  improvident 
Kleiuveld  would  come  whining  for  another. 

The  third  weary  day  in  the  thirst-land  ended, 
and  the  curse  of  the  region  seemed  descending  on 
the  travellers.  Very  little  water  remained  when 
the  poor  parched  oxen's  throats  had  been  wetted, 
for  the  draught  to  each  was  scarce  more  than 
enough  for  that.  And  some  of  the  precious  fluid 
must  be  retained  for  the  human  beings  whose  ex- 
istence might  depend  on  it. 

Gilbert  sat  down  at  the  Caffres'  fire  when  the 
oxen  were  duly  kraaled,  and  observed  the  guide 
narrowly.  He  was  a  Hottentot,  ill-favoured  even 
above  the  generality  of  his  nation,  yet  with  the 
usual  delicately-shaped  hands  and  feet,  wrists  and 
ankles.  He  was  busily  engaged  in  "  casting  bones," 
a  system  of  divination  by  which  native  experts 
profess  to  foretell  events,  and  whence  he  had  him- 
self foretold  five  days  since  a  rapid  journey  across 
the  thirst-land  and  abundance  of  water  after  three 
outspans.  A  half  circle  of  natives  about  him 
attended  upon  his  every  movement  with  their  eyes 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  301 

in  mute  credulity.  Yet  there  was  upon  his  half- 
monkey  features  a  sort  of  perplexity,  as  if  he  could 
not  quite  make  his  course  clear  to  himself. 

"Does  my  brother  think  that  God  shows  men 
future  things  by  such  means  as  those?"  asked  Gil- 
bert in  the  native  tongue,  and  pointing  to  the  bones 
which  were  being  used  for  augury.  "My  brother 
was  showed  falsehood  already  by  them." 

The  Hottentot  knew  very  well  to  what  he  al- 
luded, but  he  pretended  to  be  wrapped  in  his 
divination  and  answered  nothing. 

"  My  brother  promised  water  after  three  out- 
spans  ;  lo !  here  we  are  at  the  third,  and  the  whole 
land  is  still  dry  as  a  rock  and  the  cattle  are  per- 
ishing from  thirst.  God  does  not  make  mistakes 
and  tell  wrong  things ;  say  rather  that  a  wicked 
spirit  misled  my  brother  and  that  his  divination 
is  naught." 

A  frown  gathered  on  the  low,  dingy-yellow  brow 
of  the  Hottentot.  "  Water  to-morrow,"  he  prom- 
ised, and  the  more  ignorant  of  the  native  camp- 
followers  were  fully  satisfied.  Gilbert  kept  watch 
lest  their  guide  should  make  away  during  the 
night,  which  is  continually  a  native  way  of  getting 
out  of  a  difficulty,  but  the  man  slept  in  his  kaross, 
round  as  a  ball,  under  the  smoke  and  all  but  in 


302  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

the  very  brands  of  the  fire,  never  hearing  the  low- 
ing of  the  poor  thirsty  oxen,  which  grew  drier 
and  shriller  as  their  throats  became  parched  into 
leather,  and  which  effectually  prevented  the  white 
men  from  sleeping  at  all. 

It  also  set  them  on  the  trek  earlier  than  usual 
next  day;  long  before  the  sun  rose  they  had  in- 
spanned,  and  were  marching  across  what  appeared 
the  interminable  bleached  desert.  Before  setting 
forth,  Mr.  Owen  stood  at  the  wagon's  head  and 
prayed  aloud  to  his  God  that  they  might  find 
water  if  it  was  his  will  to  spare  their  lives ;  and 
he  could  hear  the  whispered  comments  of  the 
heathen  standing  around  as  though  they  regarded 
the  occasion  as  a  test  for  the  power  of  the  w.hite 
man's  deity.  He  could  have  prayed  in  the  very 
words  of  the  old  prophet,  "Lord  God  of  Abraham, 
of  Isaac  and  of  Israel,  let  it  be  known  this  day 
that  thou  art  God  and  that  I  am  thy  servant,  and 
that  I  have  done  all  these  things  at  thy  word. 
Hear  me,  O  Lord,  hear  me,  that  this  people  may 
know  that  thou  art  the  Lord  God !" 

Out  of  the  burning  east  rose  the  sun  some  time 
thereafter,  without  the  shadow  of  a  haze  to  dim 
his  glory.  What  would  Mr.  Owen  have  given  for 
a  few  clouds  ?  The  shadow  of  the  cavalcade  fell 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  303 

afar  across  the  arid,  whitened  waste,  upon  which 
even  the  bushes  were  bleached.  Touch  the  foliage, 
and  it  crumbled.  In  the  desperate  desire  to  obtain 
moisture  the  hollow-sided  pack-oxen  would  champ 
tufts  of  the  grayish  grass  and  find  mouthfuls  of 
dust.  Some  of  those  in  the  yoke  fell  from  sheer 
exhaustion  before  the  day  was  over.  Two  miles 
an  hour  was  the  utmost  speed  attained,  dragging 
along  the  heavy,  creaking  wagon,  while  wings 
would  scarce  have  been  swift  enough  for  Mr. 
Owen's  desire  to  near  that  ever-receding  level 
horizon.  He  walked  for  hours  ahead  of  the  wag- 
on, with  a  handkerchief,  damped  in  the  little  water 
that  remained,  spread  over  his  mouth  to  deaden 
thirst. 

All  at  once  he  heard  a  clamour  among  his  fol- 
lowers. Their  usual  garrulity  had  been  silenced 
throughout  that  dreary  day.  Now  there  was  a 
universal  outcry,  in  which  he  could  chiefly  distin- 
guish the  word  "  Rhinoceros,  rhinoceros  !"  One 
of  the  Caffres,  wandering  about  in  search  of  spoor, 
had  found  a  print  of  the  beast's  foot  in  the  baked 
clay,  and  they  considered  this  to  imply  the.  near- 
ness of  some  pool  or  vley  wherein  he  might  drink. 

It  was  true ;  there  had  been  water  and  an  an- 
cient river-bed  through  the  waste — how  long  since 


304  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

nobody  could  tell.  But  when  the  parched  men 
came  to  the  place  now  they  found  the  watercourse 
rather  dryer  and  harder  if  anything  than  the  rest 
of  the  desert.  Plenty  of  spoor  was  about  it,  foot- 
prints of  antelopes  and  elephants,  even  the  deep 
indenture  of  giraffe's  hoofs  and  the  broad  marks 
of  the  lion's  cushion-paws,  all  fossilized  as  hard 
as  the  burnt  bricks  of  Babylon. 

Mr.  Owen  had  often  heard  of  the  desiccation  or 
gradual  drying  up  of  the  country  taking  place 
through  most  of  the  interior,  as  if  some  subterra- 
neous force  were  gradually  lifting  the  whole  ex- 
panse of  land  above  the  water-springs  which  once 
fertilized  it.  Here  was  proof  of  the  fact — most 
disagreeable  and  disappointing  proof.  The  sav- 
ages gave  way  to  bowlings  and  lamentations,  as 
befitted  their  uncontrolled  natures  in  such  ex- 
igency; and  truly  the  white  men  felt  bewildered. 

"  We  must  dig,  sir,"  said  Gilbert.  "  There  was 
evidently  a  considerable  pool  here  once,  and  per- 
hap  there's  a  spring  very  deep  down.  We'll  out- 
span  and  try." 

All  hands  were  soon  at  work  with  picks  and 
spades.  The  oxen  seemed  to  know  their  hopes, 
and  became  so  troublesome  in  rushing  in  upon  the 
diggers  and  trampling  the  edges  of  the  hole  that  a 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  305 

number  of  the  natives  had  to  be  told  off  for  the 
purpose  of  herding  them  away  from  the  place. 
Pieces  of  plank  were  used  as  the  soil  became 
softer,  for  there  were  only  two  or  three  spades  and 
shovels  available.  Oh,  what  a  joy  when  a  few 
drops  of  muddy,  slimy  moisture  exuded  iu  the 
bottom  of  the  cavity  at  which  they  had  worked 
for  more  than  an  hour !  The  poor  natives  licked 
the  damp  mud  from  their  very  tools.  Everybody 
strove  harder.  Gilbert  sent  some  to  collect  thorn- 
bushes  to  fence  in  the  precious  fluid,  lest  the  cattle 
should  trample  it  into  clay  again  when  they  were 
allowed  access.  A  quantity  of  the  "  wacht-een- 
bigte,"  or  wait-a-bits,  were  thrown  over  the  edge 
for  the  same  purpose.  The  animal's  hoofs  had 
been  so  long  walking  on  the  scorching  soil  that 
anything  like  cool  footing  would  be  an  irresistible 
luxury  if  not  thus  defended.  Even  now,  when 
the  sun  was  declining  near  the  verge  of  the  sky, 
they  kept  moving  their  hoofs  on  the  ground,  tes- 
tifying that  it  was  too  hot  to  stand  on  comfortably. 
"  Don't  break  the  sand  !"  was  the  cry  among 
the  diggers  when  a  belt  of  it  was  reached ;  "  the 
water  will  go  away !"  And  surely  it  began  in  a 
few  moments  to  filter  from  the  edges  of  the  sand- 
slip,  but  with  tantalizing  slowness.  Considering 

20 


306  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

that  each  thirsty  ox  would  drink  five  or  six  buck- 
etsful,  the  hope  of  a  sufficient  supply  seemed  very 
sanguine  indeed.  First  all  the  human  beings 
squatted  round  and  scooped  out  a  little  of  the  fluid 
in  tortoise-shells,  the  usual  drinking-cup  of  the 
desert,  waiting  till  the  water  had  risen  half  an 
inch  and  then  zealously  scraping  up  the  very  mud. 
Oh,  for  the  abundant  streams  and  humid  heavens 
of  Old  England  ! 

Then  watering  the  cattle  was  such  a  tremendous 
affair,  and  a  long  lapse  of  time  must  ensue  between 
the  introduction  of  one  ox  and  another  to  the 
thorn-fenced  hole,  for  each  drained  it  completely. 
Morning  came,  and  all  were  but  half  satisfied. 

"  I've  been  twenty  hours  digging  a  hole,  sir, 
with  my  master,"  said  Gilbert,  "and  the  sides 
have  fallen  in  then  on  the  mud ;  so  we're  not  so 
badly  off  this  time  but  what  we  might  be  worse." 

The  Hottentot  guide  reminded  Gilbert  of  his 
divinations,  and  asked  whether  they  had  not  come 
true,  which  was  listened  to  in  triumph  by  a  knot 
of  grinning,  white-toothed  natives,  and  confirmed 
them  in  their  superstitions. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

WITCHCRAFT. 

>ILBERT  could  tell  many  stories  about  such 
thirst-lands.  He  had  seen  whole  villages 
of  natives  living  in  a  state  of  chronic  thirst, 
to  without  wells  or  springs  or  streams,  getting 
moisture  from  tuberous  roots  and  the  milk  of  their 
goats.  These  last  fed  upon  a  sort  of  succulent 
ice-plant  or  ruesembryanthemum,  which  was  very 
common,  and  furnished  them  with  a  substitute  for 
water.  He  had  seen,  in  other  localities,  natives 
sitting  from  morning  till  night  by  a  few  muddy 
holes,  ladling  off  a  few  drops  at  a  time  to  fill  their 
water-bags  for  a  journey.  And  into  the  country 
of  all  such  hardships  had  Mr.  Enfield  voluntarily 
gone,  with  no  higher  object  than  amusement,  in 
pursuit  of  which  he  had  endured  sufficient  suffer- 
ing and  risk  to  have  earned  a  Roman  saint  canon- 
ization. 

Mr.  Owen's  wagon  outspanned  by  the  holes  in 
the  river  bed  until  after  next  day's  noon,  when  he 

307 


308  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

was  waked  from  his  sleep  in  the  shade  of  a  thorn- 
bush  by  a  fierce  contest  between  two  of  his  natives. 
Perhaps  they  did  not  know  the  master  was  so  near, 
but  one  was  accusing  the  other  violently  of  witch- 
craft— in  particular  of  having  bewitched  him  and 
causing  him  illness. 

"You  have  made  me  sick,"  said  the  Caffre; 
"you  have  cast  upon  me  the  evil  eye.  If  I  was 
in  my  own  country  you  should  be  punished." 

The  other  stoutly  rejoined  that  he  had  done 
nothing,  but  that  he  knew  the  accusing  Caffre  en- 
vied him  the  possession  of  some  handsome  brass 
beads  he  wore  round  his  neck,  and  a  new  kali,  or 
piece  of  red  curtain  binding  about  a  foot  and  a 
half  long  which  adorned  his  jetty  head.  For  the 
sake  of  these  valuables  he  said  that  he  knew  the 
other  wished  to  destroy  him,  but  they  were  far 
away  from  chiefs  here,  and  the  missionary  chief 
would  not  allow  any  one  to  be  killed  on  such  a 
charge. 

To  explain  this  we  must  understand  somewhat 
of  the  laws  or  the  lawlessness  which  prevail  with 
regard  to  withcraft  in  South  Africa.  It  is  the 
most  ready  and  powerful  means  of  getting  rid  of 
political  offenders,  or  of  persons  who  are  envied 
because  of  their  wealth  or  importance.  When  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  309 

chief  wishes  to  remove  an  obnoxious  person,  he 
has  only  to  fall  sick  himself  and  to  send  for  a 
witch-doctor,  who  speedily  discovers  the  man  who 
has  bewitched  his  patient,  and  the  matter  where- 
with he  has  bewitched  him,  by  means  of  incanta- 
tions. Immediately  the  victim  is  seized  and  put 
to  death  without  any  manner  of  trial.  The  death 
is  often  of  the  cruellest.  A  man  has  been  fre- 
quently burnt  alive  in  his  hut,  with  a  ring  of  his 
near  neighbours  guarding  every  possible  outlet  of 
escape ;  or  he  has  been  fastened  to  the  ground 
naked  and  covered  with  large  black  ants  to  devour 
him  piecemeal  under  a  burning  sun.  Mr.  Owen 
had  heard  of  many  such  enormities  in  Caffraria, 
and  could  subscribe  with  his  whole  experience  to 
the  Psalmist's  declaration,  "The  dark  places  of  the 
earth  are  full  of  the  habitations  of  cruelty."  When 
will  British  Christians  arouse  themselves  to  cog- 
nizance of  the  fact  that  dark  deeds  such  as  these 
are  done  every  day  in  heathendom,  and  that  mis- 
sionary labour  is  the  truest  philanthropy  ? 

Mr.  Owen  bestirred  himself  now  and  stepped 
between  the  contending  parties,  who  hung  their 
heads  like  whipped  dogs  at  being  discovered.  He 
spoke  to  them  in  their  own  language  and  in  the 
manner  which  they  understood,  and  tried  to  show 


310  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

them  the  folly  of  the  charge  concerning  which  they 
were  about  to  fight. 

"  Do  you  think  the  great  God  who  lives  in 
heaven  gives  power  to  one  man  to  hurt  another  by 
an  evil  look  or  an  envious  thought  ?  Do  you 
think  he  will  send  sickness  on  you  because  your 
enemy  wishes  it?  No;  God  is  not  made  to  do 
things  in  obedience  to  the  wicked  desires  of  bad 
men.  He  preserves  them  who  pray  to  him  Avith 
all  their  heart,  as  I  hoped  you  were  doing  some- 
times, Unfala." 

He  looked  sorrowfully  at  the  native,  from  whom 
he  had  expected  better  things,  who  had  been  in  his 
Bible-class  every  evening  from  the  very  commence- 
ment of  the  trek  at  Bethelsdorp,  and  whose  eyes 
had  often  been  moist  with  what  seemed  tears  of 
repentance.  Alas  for  the  goodness  which  is  like 
the  early  dew  and  the  morning  cloud  that  passeth 
away ! 

"  Mas'r,"  Unfala  replied,  doggedly,  "  I  see 
witchcraft  in  my  own  country.  I  see  bewitched 
men  die.  God  let  it  happen.  Witches  no  power 
over  white  men,  therefore  you  not  fear ;  but  witch 
have  great  power  over  Caffre,  therefore  I  fear." 

It  was  very  hard  to  argue  the  point,  and  Mr 
Owen  could  not  but  remember  the  diabolic  powers 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  311 

let  loose  ou  earth  during  our  Saviour's  life  and  at 
various  periods  before.  Who  could  tell  but  in 
this  pagan  society,  in  Satan's  very  stronghold  of 
evil  deeds,  the  evil  spirit  himself  might  exercise 
more  power  than  elsewhere  in  more  lightsome  re- 
gions? Question  any  intelligent  Caffre  and  he 
will  give  numberless  instances  of  occult  and  mys- 
terious influences  working  strange  and  disastrous 
results,  difficult  to  explain  on  ordinary  hypotheses-. 
But  our  grand  stand-point  is,  "  the  Son  of  man 
was  manifested  that  he  might  destroy  the  works 
of  the  devil,"  and  the  cure  for  this,  as  for  all  other 
superstitions  and  miseries  of  mankind,  is  a  diffu- 
sion of  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  missionary  drew  strength  from  that  verse 
now. 

"  Once,"  he  said,  "  my  forefathers  believed  in 
witchcraft  as  you  do.  Perhaps  there  was  such  a 
power  then,  but  if  so  it  has  gone  away  now.  The 
Bible  has  driven  it  away.  Singing  God's  praise 
and  praying  God's  prayers  has  driven  it  away. 
Now,  Unfala  and  Kleinboy,  if  you  try  the  same 
cure,  you  will  be  delivered  from  witches  and  from 
all  other  fears." 

But  Kleinboy  had  bewitched  the  water,  quoth 
Unfala.  He  knew  that  it  was  he  who  had  dried 


312  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

the  water-courses  and  sent  the  streams  away. 
What  was  Mr.  Owen  to  say  to  this  childishness? 
Such  silly  superstitions  he  had  every  day  to  con- 
tend with,  and  found  that  even  patience  with  them 
was  at  times  difficult. 

He  had  recourse  to  the  old  mental  refuge — 
prayer  to  his  God  ;  for  he  had  abundantly  proved 
in  this  desert  how  true  was  that  blessed  expe- 
rience, "  Thou  art  my  strong  habitation,  whereunto 
I  may  continually  resort."  A  man  goes  into  his 
own  house  with  a  confidence  which  he  can  have  in 
entering  no  other  person's  house,  and  the  Most 
High  permits  himself  to  be  likened  to  this.  Oh 
wondrous  condescension  !  The  soul  can  never  be 
over-much  disturbed  with  the  cares  and  sorrows 
of  life  which  can  act  thus  concerning  its  God  ; 
and  so  had  the  missionary  found  oftentimes  in  his 
wanderings. 

"  If  your  withcraft  was  anything,"  he  said,  after 
a  little  thought,  "  it  would  bewitch  me  and  other 
white  men  who  seek  to  make  an  end  of  it.  Now 
I  have  offered  myself  to  be  under  the  power  of  a 
witch-doctor,  and  he  could  do  nothing." 

"  No,"  said  the  Caffre  ;  "  white  man  too  great, 
too  learned.  Witch-doctor  do  nothing  to  white 
man — he  kill  black  man." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  313 

"  Then  he  kills  him  by  poisonous  herbs,  or  some 
other  way  that  is  not  witchcraft  at  all,  but  merely 
wickedness,"  replied  Mr.  Owen,  who  knew  that 
deaths  by  this  means  were  quite  common  in  Caf- 
f'raria.  As  another  missionary  remarks,  "  A  com- 
plete science  is  kept  up  by  the  witch-doctors  in 
the  properties  of  poisonous  seeds  and  roots,  so  that 
an  'enyanga,'  as  he  is  called,  is  a  formidable  foe, 
as  being  master  of  the  deadliest  poisons  in  the 
world."  The  same  competent  authority  affirms 
that  "  the  dread  of  witchcraft  is  the  greatest  tor- 
ment which  the  Caifres  undergo,  and  is  plainly  the 
device  if  not  the  power  of  Satan."  It  meets  the 
missionary  on  every  hand  and  thwarts  every  effort 
for  the  good  of  the  natives,  so  that  truly  he  feels 
that  his  wrestling  is  not  only  "  against  flesh  and 
blood,  but  against  powers,  against  the  rulers  of 
the  darkness  of  this  world,  against  wicked  spirits 
(margin)  in  high  places." 

Reasoning  with  the  natives  on  this  subject  Mr. 
Owen  found  unavailing.  The  bonds  of  olden  su- 
perstition were  braced  too  tightly  about  their  souls. 
Oil  for  the  breathings  of  that  Spirit  who  will  yet 
pour  life  into  the  valley  of  dry  bones !  He  re- 
membered how  his  own  enlightened  forefathers, 
down  to  the  time  of  George  I.,  believed  in  witch- 


314  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

craft  with  an  intentness  demonstrated  by  constant 
public  executions ;  and  he  began  to  apprehend  that 
the  missionary  may  only  weaken  his  force  and  in- 
fluence by  attacking  popular  superstition  in  detail, 
instead  of  addressing  all  his  energies  to  the  spirit- 
ual regeneration  of  the  man.  After  that,  all  else 
would  follow. 

"  Well,  Unfala,"  was  the  winding  up  of  his  ar- 
gument on  the  present  occasion,  "when  you  believe 
in  Jesus  Christ  as  I  do  he  will  preserve  you  from 
witchcraft  as  from  all  other  evils.  You  acknow- 
ledge that  witchcraft  has  no  power  over  me.  I 
would  advise  you  to  seek  the  same  protection  that 
I  have  gained." 

"  Unfala  will  pray,"  was  the  reply. 

The  oxen  were  inspanned  again,  and  they  left 
the  muddy  holes  which  had  saved  them  for  the 
time  being,  and  treked  away  across  the  wide  waste 
land.  Earlier  in  the  day  natives  had  been  de- 
spatched to  seek  for  tidings  or  traces  of  water  in 
advance.  They  caught  a  wretched  Bushman,  who 
vehemently  asserted  that  there  was  none — none — 
and  seemed  terrified  out  of  his  senses  when  brought 
within  sight  of  the  wagon,  which  he  supposed  to 
be  some  huge  monster  advancing  to  devour  him. 
He  broke  from  them  and  fled  with  the  fleet-ness  of 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  315 

an  antelope,  disappearing  among  the  clumps  of 
thorn  almost  immediately,  where  he  lay  panting 
and  awestricken  in  a  thicket,  not  daring  to  move 
forth  as  long  as  the  dreaded  object  remained  within 
ken,  but  watching  its  progress  with  the  glaring 
eyeballs  of  fear. 

The  Southern  Cross  was  rising  toward  the  me- 
ridian when  cries  of  joy  were  heard  from  the  front 
of  the  cavalcade.  Water  was  found — a  broad, 
abundant  pool  gleaming  in  the  starlight.  Soon 
they  reached  its  edge,  but  the  weary  pack-oxen, 
which  had  plunged  almost  headlong  therein, 
plunged  out  again  as  rapidly,  snorting  and  lowing 
with  disappointment  and  dislike.  "  Brak,  brak !" 
The  tempting  pool  was  salt  as  sea-water. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

A    SALT-PAN. 

r 

'T  was  a  sore  disappointment.  That  limpid, 
glistening  pool,  reflecting  the  brightest  stars, 
mocked  the  thirsty  travellers  by  the  sem- 
blance of  what  they  so  needed ;  it  was  worse 
than  if  the  place  had  been  drained  and  baked  dry. 
All  round  the  edge  was  a  whitened  beach  of  salt, 
showing  how  daily  evaporation  was  lowering  the 
waters.  They  outspanned  in  its  neighbourhood, 
and  the  poor  oxen  had  to  bear  their  thirst  as  best 
they  might. 

Did  the  waters  of  Marah  recur  to  the  mission- 
ary's remembrance? — the  murmuring  multitude 
crying  to  their  steadfast  lawgiver,  "  What  shall 
we  drink?" — the  marvellous  cure,  a  tree  showed 
by  the  Lord  God,  which,  cast  into  the  bitter  pool, 
made  its  waters  sweet  and  rescued  the  famishing 
thousands  of  Israel  from  the  torment  of  thirst? — 
the  yet  more  marvellous  antitype  whose  prophetic 
name  is  "  the  Branch  ;"  which  plant  of  God's  right- 

316 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  317 

hand  planting,  cast  into  the  bitterest  waters  of  this 
troublesome  and  disappointing  world,  can  sweeten 
them  for  evermore? 

Morning  light  brought  a  strange  revelation. 
Mr.  Owen  came  out  of  his  wagon  early,  just  after 
the  sun  had  risen.  All  were  yet  sleeping  save  the 
native  who  had  charge  of  the  fires,  and  who  was 
squatting  on  the  ground  with  his  knees  under  his 
chin  and  his  arms  crossed  around  them,  staring 
stolidly  over  the  desert. 

At  what  a  glorious  prospect !  Waves  of  a  purple 
sea  swept  by  a  cool  western  breeze,  splashing  about 
exquisite  emerald  islets,  whose  palm-trees  were 
stirred  over  their  shadows  by  the  same  breeze ; 
white  clouds  adrift  in  the  serene  heaven  above  and 
casting  violet  shade  in  stains  upon  the  deep  be- 
neath. For  a  moment  Mr.  Owen  was  absolutely 
bewildered.  Could  they  have  approached  the  sea 
without  being  aware  of  the  fact  in  the  weary  wan- 
derings of  the  last  week  ?  Could  this  be  some  oasis 
of  loveliness  and  fertility,  some  garden  of  Eden  in 
the  midst  of  the  thirst-land,  left  for  him  to  discover 
and  record?  Had  they  struck  upon  any  of  the 
great  central  lakes  ?  These  queries  rushed  into  his 
mind.  He  called  Gilbert  loudly,  not  taking  off  his 
eyes  meanwhile  from  the  vision  of  enchantment,  as 


318  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

if  he  feared  it  might  melt  away,  like  the  scenes  in 
old  stories  conjured  up  by  a  wizard's  spell. 

Gilbert  unwrapped  his  blankets  and  sheepskins 
and  flung  them  aside  as  he  heard  his  master's  voice 
in  such  unwonted  tones.  The  brown  and  black 
and  yellow  natives,  asleep  about  the  red  embers, 
could  not  be  so  easily  disturbed. 

"  James,  James !  it  is  too  real,  too  vivid,  to  be 
only  a  mirage." 

The  Europeans  gazed  in  silence,  after  one  excla- 
mation from  Gilbert.  The  very  sight  was  refresh- 
ment. Oh  that  abundance  of  tumbling,  "  living" 
water,  that  depth  of  juicy  verdure,  that  blowing 
westerly  breeze !  Everything  they  wanted,  every- 
thing this  arid  desert  had  not.  But  even  while 
they  gazed  a  certain  trembling  ran  through  all  the 
aerial  vision ;  at  the  horizon  edges  it  began  to  fade 
into  indistinctness,  to  blur  as  though  molten.  Not 
a  word  did  either  speak,  as  gradually  the  mag- 
nificent panorama  began  to  contract,  to  quiver  as 
though  painted  on  tremulous  air;  sorrowfully  they 
watched  it  melt  and  fleet  away,  as  if  a  curtain  of 
glory  had  been  let  down  from  heaven  to  cover  the 
bleached  wilderness  and  was  drawn  up  again ! 

Philip  Owen  breathed  a  long  sigh.  "  I  never 
saw  any  scene  more  real,"  he  pronounced  slowly, 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  319 

and  still  gazing  at  the  place  where  it  had  vanished, 
and  where  now  appeared  instead  the  snow-like 
expanse  of  a  great  barren  salt-pan,  extending  for 
miles. 

"  I  guessed  what  it  was  when  I  saw  it,"  quoth 
the  carpenter,  drawing  his  hand  across  his  bearded 
chin  ;  "  I've  seen  'ern  before — the  most  tantalizing 
things  in  nature.  Just  the  very  reverse  o'  what's 
really  there  rises  up  out  of  it  like  a  picture — like 
that  .salt-pan  now." 

The  hoar-frost  of  centuries  might  have  congealed 
over  its  expanse  and  sparkled  in  the  million  facets 
of  radiance  under  the  sunbeams.  Was  it  the  bed 
of  a  great  lake  of  brine  dried  up  during  years  of 
drought  and  slow  elevation  of  the  laud  which  held 
it?  Mr.  Owen  had  heard  of  huge  salt-pans  in 
other  parts  of  South  Africa,  the  length  and  breadth 
of  which  were  computed  by  the  number  of  days' 
journey  from  one  end  to  the  other. 

Now,  upon  being  roused  rather  roughly  by  Gil- 
bert and  told  to  look  about  him,  the  Hottentot 
guide  rubbed  his  little  wide-apart  eyes  with  his 
tan-coloured  knuckles  and  declared  presently  that 
he  was  "  lost."  He  had  gone  astray ;  the  straight 
road  across  the  thirst-land  lay  not  at  all  near  the 
salt-pan ;  they  had  come  many  miles  wrong. 


320  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

This  was  serious  news,  which,  when  compre- 
hended by  the  natives,  had  like  to  have  been  even 
more  immediately  serious  for  the  ignorant  guide. 
Unfala  and  Sackaboni  and  the  rest  rushed  upon 
him.  with  a  good-will  which  threatened  a  severe 
beating;  Mr.  Owen  had  to  interfere  and  keep  the 
Hottentot  for  protection  under  his  own  eye. 

There  was  no  use  in  nearing  the  salt-pan  any 
further,  so  they  struck  away  due  westward,  in  pur- 
suance of  the  judgment  of  the  most  experienced 
natives.  The  Europeans  had  some  trouble  in  dis- 
covering this  their  opinion,  for  on  a  consultation 
being  demanded  and  a  laying  of  heads  together  to 
decide  on  the  wisest  course,  a  scene  of  the  most 
boisterous  character  ensued.  Such  vociferation  and 
uproar !  a  dozen  voices  shouting  at  once,  as  if  try- 
ing to  outvie  each  other  in  the  creation  of  noise 
and  confusion.  Two  or  three  of  the  latest  comers 
brandished  their  assagais  most  energetically  in 
maintenance  of  their  opinions.  A  stranger  would 
have  thought  the  whole  party  were  bent  on  man- 
slaughter, but  Gilbert  knew  that  this  was  only 
their  method  of  amicable  discussion. 

Scarlet  flamingoes  stood  in  the  salt-pond  and 
strode  tamely  on  the  scintillating  beach ;  Mr.  Owen 
found  exercise  for  some  of  the  native  energies  in 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  321 

killing  a  few  of  the  birds  for  food.  And  as  they 
walked  along  before  and  behind  the  wagon,  with 
the  slain  flamingoes  hung  round  their  necks,  the 
native  hunters  plucked  away  the  plumage,  leaving 
a  red  rain  of  feathers  as  spoor  for  some  distance. 

Water,  water  was  the  longing  wish  of  every- 
body. Mr.  Owen's  damp  handkerchief  was  again 
his  resource  through  the  burning  noontide.  Oh 
for  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  the  weary  land  ! 
What  intense  significance  was  added  to  all  those 
Bible  metaphors  :  "  I  will  pour  water  on  him  that 
is  thirsty  and  floods  on  the  dry  ground."  "  The 
Lamb  shall  lead  them  unto  living  fountains  of 
waters."  "  I  will  give  unto  him  that  is  athirst  of 
the  fountain  of  the  water  of  life  freely."  And  last 
to  the  missionary's  remembrance  came  those  words 
of  comfort :  "  When  the  poor  and  needy  seek  water, 
and  there  is  none,  and  their  tongue  faileth  for 
thirst,  I  the  Lord  will  hear  them,  I  the  God  of 
Israel  will  not  forsake  them." 

But  the  natives,  who  had  no  such  spiritual  con- 
solations, complained  loudly  of  their  privations 
with  all  sorts  of  forcible  metaphors.  They  were 
dispersed  abroad  over  the  waste,  looking  for  spoor. 
Some  slight  change  in  the  nature  of  the  soil  ren- 
dered tracks  possible  now.  Often  they  came  across 
21 


322  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

the  ostrich's  stride,  but  that  might  be  where  water 
was  forty  miles  distant;  poor  comfort  was  thence 
obtainable.  But  great  and  loudly  expressed  was 
the  joy  when  the  marks  of  giraffes'  hoofs  were 
espied,  it  being  well  known  that  that  colossal  crea- 
ture rarely  strays  farther  from  stream  or  pool  than 
about  seven  miles. 

The  appearance  of  the  spoor  was  presently  fol- 
lowed by  the  appearance  of  its  cause — huge  shadowy 
forms  in  the  distance  tranquilly  browsing  on  tree- 
tops.  For  the  vegetation  of  the  country  had  as- 
sumed another  form,  and  produced  now  palms  and 
mimosas  as  well  as  clumps  of  thorn.  Gilbert  took 
some  of  the  natives  with  him  to  make  a  circuit  and 
surprise  one  of  the  giraffes  if  possible.  Stores  were 
running  low  in  the  wagon,  for  Mr.  Owen  had  ill- 
calculated  the  voracity  of  his  followers  when  he 
laid  them  in;  and  the  carpenter  resolved  to  put 
in  practice  some  of  the  hunting  lore  of  his  first 
master  in  order  to  increase  their  fast-disappearing 
stock  of  provisions. 

It  was  hard  work  under  the  broiling  sun,  for  the 
lustrous,  prominent  eyes  of  the  giraffe  can  sweep 
almost  the  whole  circle  of  the  horizon,  making  it 
most  difficult  to  approach  unperceived,  and  the 
timidity  of  the  animal  is  easily  alarmed.  Long 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  323 

before  the  hunters  came  within  shot,  the  awkward, 
lounging  walk  of  the  creature  had  been  changed 
into  a  succession  of  rapid,  frog-like  bounds,  and 
then  into  a  magnificent  run,  which  left  human  legs 
no  chance.  Hunters  and  hunted  disappeared  be- 
yond a  slight  elevation,  and  Mr.  Owen  supposed 
they  had  lost  their  quarry. 

The  wagon  went  slowly  on  behind  the  jaded 
oxen.  Mr.  Owen  heard  a  rapid  step,  and  looking 
round  perceived  Sackaboni  with  a  face  of  much 
gratification,  betrayed  by  the  visibility  of  every 
white  tooth,  coming  up  behind  with  something 
borne  in  his  hands.  "Better  than  giraffe,"  he 
said ;  and  truly  it  was  more  acceptable  to  the 
thirsty  white  man  just  then  than  a  mountain  of 
meat.  It  was  the  water-bearing  tuber  which  Mr. 
Owen  had  seen  once  or  twice  before.  Sackaboni's 
quick  eye  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  herb-like 
creeper  which  is  its  ensign  above  ground,  even 
while  in  hot  pursuit  of  the  giraffes.  He  dropped 
behind,  sounded  the  earth  all  about  the  stalk  for  a 
circle  of  a  yard  or  so  with  a  stone,  till  his  prac- 
tised ear  detected  the  slight  difference  of  resonance 
where  the  tuber  lay,  then  grubbed  down  a  foot  or 
so  and  found  it,  large  nearly  as  a  man's  head. 
Most  wonderful  of  all  to  relate,  he  had  not  wetted 


324  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

his  own  lips  with  the  precious  juice,  but  brought 
it  intact  to  his  master. 

Mr.  Owen  was  touched  to  perceive  this.  He 
felt  that  Sackaboni  must  care  somewhat  for  him 
or  he  would  not  voluntarily  act  so  unselfishly,  for 
selfishness  is  the  dominant  characteristic  of  savage 
life,  and  any  inroad  upon  it  exceedingly  to  be 
valued  as  the  dawning  of  better  things. 

By  and  by  the  giraffe-hunters  came  up,  or  rather 
a  portion  of  them,  for  the  rest  had  remained  to 
cut  up  and  skin  the  prize.  Gilbert  wanted  the 
outspan  to  be  fixed  where  his  prey  fell  for  that 
night,  in  order  to  secure  the  great  store  of  meat ; 
so  it  was  done. 

The  missionary  both  disliked  and  dreaded  these 
flesh-eatings,  but  he  could  not  prevent  them. 
After  the  white  man's  share  was  laid  aside,  hung 
upon  the  thorn  trees  to  dry,  all  the  ugliness  of 
the  native  character  came  out  in  their  insatiate 
struggle  over  the  remainder.  They  rushed  in 
•\vith  assagais,  knives,  every  possible  cutting  in- 
strument, and  began  to  hew  and  hack  at  the  mass 
of  meat,  shouting  and  hallooing  and  wrestling 
most  of  the  time.  Afar  in  the  serene  heavens  ap- 
peared a  dark  speck,  enlarging,  moving  toward 
them.  The  vulture  of  the  desert  had  sniffed  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  325 

slaughter  and  was  coming  for  his  share.  This 
was  trifling — the  very  marrow-bones  were  picked 
clean  by  his  human  rivals. 

Mr.  Owen  left  them  at  the  orgie  and  went  off 
with  Gilbert  and  Sackaboni  to  search  for  water. 
They  found  it,  but  within  a  hundred  yards  lay  a 
dead  zebra.  "  A  poisoned  pool,"  said  the  carpen- 
ter. "  Bushmen,"  said  the  Caffre  in  a  whisper, 
glancing  round  apprehensively;  and  he  showed 
them  the  species  of  euphorbia  whose  milky  juice 
had  made  the  pool  deadly  for  all  wild  animals. 
Men  or  oxen  would  not  die,  but  they  would  suffer 
exceedingly.  It  was  another  sore  disappointment. 

But  in  the  dead  of  the  still  starlit  night  Gilbert 
jumped  up  from  his  kaross  at  the  fireside.  He 
had  heard  the  very  distant  croaking  of  frogs, 
which  during  the  day  would  be  drowned  quite  by 
other  sounds,  and  resolved  to  trace  it.  Sackaboni 
went  with  him,  each  shouldering  a  gun,  for  the 
midnight  walk  was  in  South  Africa,  with  nobody 
knew  what  wild  beasts  abroad. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

SABBATHS    AMONG    THE    HEATHEN. 

HE  outspan  was  broken  up  unceremoniously 
about  an  hour  thereafter,  the  oxen  harness- 
ed with  the  usual  rout  and  hubbub,  and  all 
were  on  their  way  to  the  discovered  water, 
which  was  a  splendid  natural  stone  fountain,  deep 
and  clear,  lying  among  blueish  rocks,  and  contain- 
ing water  enough  for  an  army. 

No  stint  need  be  exercised  here,  no  fencing  off 
the  cattle  with  thorns,  and  jealously  admitting  one 
at  a  time  to  slake  his  parched  thirst;  still,  three  or 
four  of  the  natives  wielded  their  sjamboks,  or 
Avhips  of  rhinoceros  hide,  very  forcibly  upon  such 
of  the  oxen  as  trampled  and  splashed  overmuch, 
and  morning  light  found  them  even  yet  drinking 
insatiably,  as  if  they  could  never  have  enough  of 
the  delicious  refreshment. 

That  morning  light  was  of  the  Sabbath  day. 
Of  course  Mr.  Owen  never  travelled,  unless  in 
some  dire  strait,  during  the  sacred  hours.  He 

326 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  327 

generally  endeavoured  to  spend  the  day  near  some 
native  kraal,  in  order  to  invite  its  inhabitants  to 
worship  and  hold  meetings  for  their  instruction. 
Many  were  the  scenes  at  such  places  recorded  in 
his  journal — such  as  the  following  : 

"  Sat  down  near  the  cattle-fold,  in  the  usual 
place  of  native  assemblages,  to  collect  an  audience. 
Seeing  me  looking  steadfastly  on  my  Bible  as  I  read 
to  myself  the  thirty-seventh  Psalm,  the  natives 
gathered  about  me.  A  brown  hand  was  passed 
across  the  page.  One  of  the  boldest  had  done  this, 
for  others  seemed  to  think  the  book  a  dangerous 
thing.  I  suppose  they  had  never  before  seen  a 
printed  volume.  '  Why  does  the  white  man  look 
at  it?'  was  the  question  asked.  I  said  that  my 
God  spoke  to  me  through  that  book,  and  told  me 
what  I  ought  to  do.  They  all  shrank  away  when 
I  said  this.  I  laid  the  Bible  on  the  ground  for 
their  inspection,  and  invited  them  to  touch  it. 
'  Would  I  make  it  speak  to  them  ?'  No,  because 
they  could  not  read  as  I  could,  I  answered ;  and 
then  came  a  host  of  questions  as  to  what  this  mys- 
terious power  of  '  read'  was.  I  told  them  I  would 
make  marks  on  the  ground  which  my  native  fol- 
lowers would  tell  the  meaning  of,  and  requested 
that  the  ctief  would  whisper  something  into  my 


328  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

ear,  which  I  should  write  down  as  I  proposed. 
He  did  so,  and  great  was  the  amazement  when 
Sackaboni  stepped  forward  and  read  fluently  the 
few  words  I  had  traced  with  a  stick  on  the  soil. 
It  seemed  to  them  a  piece  of  witchcraft,  and  Sack- 
aboni looked  most  triumphant. 

" '  Now,'  I  said,  '  you  perceive  how  it  is  that  my 
God  speaks  to  me  in  this  book.  I  will  tell  you 
what  he  says  if  you  will  listen.'  They  all  squatted 
down  into  a  circle  of  the  most  attentive  brown 
faces  possible,  with  the  Bible  still  lying  in  the 
centre,  an  attraction  for  all  eyes.  I  let  it  remain, 
while  I  told  in  my  own  words  of  the  life  and  death 
of  our  precious  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  inwardly 
lifting  up  my  heart  to  the  Hearer  of  prayer,  that 
he  would  send  his  Spirit  with  his  own  gospel 
message. 

"I  am  obliged  to  speak  all  important  statements 
slowly  and  carefully,  to  avoid  marring  the  effect 
by  my  foreign  accent;  and  oh  it  is  hard,  when  the 
heart  is  overflowing  with  the  divine  subject  and 
longs  to  speak  freely  of  Jesus  and  the  common 
salvation,  to  find  this  bar  of  iron  laid  across  my 
lips.  I  surely  need  Paul's  prayei ,  that  '  utterance 
may  be  given  unto  me.'  Oh  for  the  Pentecostal 
effusion  which  loosed  all  tongues  in  the  needed 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  329 

languages  !  The  curse  of  Babel  is  as  bad  as  the 
curse  of  briars  and  thorns. 

"  One  interruption  I  had  from  some  lads  whis- 
pering and  laughing  behind  the  elders,  whereupon 
the  chiefs  stick  flew  with  violence  at  their  heads 
as  a  reminder  to  keep  quiet.  But  oh  the  dead- 
ness  of  these  savage  minds !  The  chief's  own 
questions  and  remarks,  when  my  narration  was 
done,  were  of  the  most  frivolous  and  purposeless 
nature. 

"An  interesting  incident  occurred.  An  old  man 
stood  up,  whose  dark  face  was  seamed  by  number- 
less wrinkles  and  scars.  His  grizzled  head  was 
powdered  with  a  blue  stuff  made  of  crushed  mica 
schist  mixed  with  fat,  and  grains  of  the  powdei 
had  fallen  on  his  shoulders,  adding  to  his  fashion- 
able appearance  in  the  eyes  of  those  Bechuanas. 
He  had  brass  rings  about  his  throat  and  arms. 
He  said  that  he  had  a  story  to  tell  which  he  heard 
from  his  forefathers.  It  was  to  the  following 
effect,  and  as  he  related  it,  with  the  abundance  of 
action  peculiar  to  his  nation,  the  idea  of  an  analogy 
between  it  and  our  own  sacred  histories  gathered 
strength  in  my  mind  : 

"  Once  a  prodigious  beast,  a  monster  named 
Kammapa,  roamed  about  this  earth  and  destroyed 


330  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

every  man  in  existence.  But  one  person  of  all 
the  human  race  escaped  his  fangs — a  woman,  who 
hid  herself  in  an  old  stable.  In  the  stable  her  son 
was  born,  and  when  she  looked  closely  at  him  she 
found  his  neck  adorned  with  an  amulet  of  charms. 
'  Thou  shalt  be  called  Litaolane,  or  the  Diviner/ 
said  she.  '  Poor  infant !  at  what  a  time  art  thou 
born !  How  wilt  thou  escape  the  monster  ?'  She 
went  out  for  a  little  straw  to  make  her  child  a  bed, 
but  when  she  entered  the  stable  again  she  found 
that  he  had  suddenly  attained  the  stature  of  a  full- 
grown  man,  and  was  speaking  words  full  of  wis- 
dom. *  My  mother,'  he  said,  '  why  this  solitude  ? 
"Where  are  the  men  ?  Is  there  none  but  you  and 
me  upon  the  earth?'  When  she  told  him  of  the 
terrible  monster,  whose  body  was  so  vast  that  the 
keenest  eyes  could  scarce  see  it  all  at  once,  her  son 
immediately  took  a  knife  and  went  forth  to  destroy 
him.  The  devourer  of  the  world  opened  his  jaws 
and  swallowed  up  the  Diviner  at  once,  but  the 
child  of  the  woman  was  not  killed  ;  he  cut  his  way 
through  the  body  of  the  monster.  As  he  did  so, 
thousands  of  human  beings  cried  out  loudly,  who 
were  buried  alive  also  with  him,  and  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  came  out  with  him  from  the 
dead  rn Duster.  Then  the  men  delivered  from 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  331 

death  began  to  say  to  one  another,  'Who  is  this 
born  of  a  woman  who  has  never  known  the  sports 
of  childhood  ?  Whence  does  he  come  ?  He  can- 
not be  one  of  us — let  us  cause  him  to  disappear 
from  the  earth.'  So  they  tried  to  slay  him,  to 
bury  him  in  a  pit,  to  cast  him  into  a  deep  river, 
but  he  always  escaped  their  hands  by  his  wisdom.* 

"  The  old  Bechuana  could  give  no  explanation 
of  this  story  or  allegory.  He  merely  said  that  the 
white  man's  speech  had  reminded  him  of  it.  Evi- 
dently the  older  portion  of  the  assemblage  were 
Avell  acquainted  with  it,  but  he  added  to  the  tale 
the  interest  of  a  drama  by  his  striking  gesticula- 
tions. Every  personage  was  accurately  imitated. 
I  could  almost  have  comprehended  the  narrative 
by  the  features  alone,  had  I  no  acquaintance  with 
the  language. 

"  Does  it  not  seem  a  parable  involving  the  main 
facts  of  man's  ruin  and  redemption  ?  The  de- 
liverer was  born  in  a  stable,  'the  seed  of  the 
woman,'  and  by  his  apparent  destruction  were  all 
men  saved  from  the  destroyer.  The  victim,  yet 
the  conqueror  through  his  very  immolation,  and 
the  persecuted  by  those  whom  he  had  deliver- 

*  A  legend  among  the  Bechuanas.  See  M.  de  Casali's  book, 
"  The  Basutos,"  p.  347. 


332  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

ed — are  there  not  strong  points  of  similarity  ? 
Through  the  grave  of  Jesus  and  his  resurrection 
do  all  his  Church  arise  with  him  to  newness  of 
life  here  and  hereafter. 

"  I  may  be  fanciful,  but  the  legend  impressed 
me  strongly.  I  showed  the  natives  what  T 
thought  about  it,  and  the  glorious  truth  which 
seemed  enshrined  therein.  They  were  very  atten- 
tive, followed  me  to  the  wagon  and  begged  of  the 
white  teacher  to  tell  them  more.  The  chief  said 
that  it  would  be  the  desire  of  his  heart  to  have  a 
missionary  at  his  village  who  should  instruct  him 
and  his  subjects." 

Not  at  that  Bechuana  kraal  alone  had  Mr. 
Owen  to  record  such  a  desire.  He  found  it  very 
general  among  the  tribes  who  knew  anything  of 
white  men.  True  that  they  coveted  the  teaching 
which  would  make  them  skilful  and  clever  like 
Europeans,  and  not  the  spiritual  knowledge  which 
would  make  them  wise  unto  salvation,  but  the 
latter  is  never  any  appetite  of  fallen  man.  God 
must  create  that  wish  as  well  as  satisfy  it. 

We  read  of  a  chief  sending  his  two  sons  to  the 
London  Missionary  Society's  station  at  Theopolis 
to  be  educated,  and  with  them  an  equivalent  in 
cattle  to  defray  the  expense,  and  a  message  that  he 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  333 

would  give  all  he  possessed  for  a  missionary  at  his 
kraal.  Many  such  instances  might  be  recorded. 
Shall  not  Christians  answer  to  the  cry,  albeit  its 
inarticulate  longings  express  not  the  words,  "  Come 
over  and  help  us."  • 

This  Sabbath  beside  the  deep  stone  fountain 
was  a  happy  one  for  the  missionary.  He  had 
much  thanksgiving  for  the  past,  and  the  review  of 
his  mercies  made  his  heart  glad,  as  is  always  the 
case.  He  held  the  usual  meetings  for  his  camp 
followers,  and  reiterated  the  old,  old  story  of  the 
grace  of  God  which  bringeth  salvation ;  and  one 
black  man  came  to  say  how  he  had  waked  the 
other  night  in  the  dead  darkness  and  trembled  to 
think  of  the  judgment-day.  He  thought  the  stars 
might  be  eyes  of  God  watching  him,  and  he  had 
not  been  a  good  man — he  had  been  a  very  wicked 
man.  He  had  stolen  cattle — the  crying  sin  of  the 
country — many  a  time.  "What  was  more,  he  felt 
that  his  heart  liked  to  steal  the  cattle,  and  might 
do  it  again.  He  had  stabbed  a  man  with  his 
assagai  once  when  he  was  angry.  He  feared  that 
he  might  get  angry  again.  It  was  the  ingenuous 
confession  of  a  disturbed  conscience,  and  the  mis- 
sionary listened  with  his  soul  gladdened.  He  di- 
rected his  words  rather  to  deepen  the  wounds  than 


334  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

to  heal  them  with  a  superficial  salve.  He  prayed 
with  the  man  in  the  simplest  language,  and  told 
him  to  pray  for  himself. 

"  Mas'r,  I  pray  to  Jesus  every  night  in  dark, 
but  Jesus  angry  with  me — Jesus  no  hear."  Surely 
there  was  an  amount  of  belief  to  produce  such  sen- 
sation and  action.  The  missionary  bore  this  man 
on  his  heart  to  God  for  many  days. 

At  first  setting  out  upon  this  tour  Mr.  Owen 
had  found  Sunday  the  most  painful  time  of  his 
week.  Lying  idle  by  the  fires  all  day— for  the 
master  would  not  allow  the  trek  to  be  pursued  on 
the  Sabbath — encouraged  the  efflorescence  of  most 
of  the  native  vices,  gluttony  and  quarrelsomeness 
in  particular.  Mr.  Eufield  had  not  cared  so  long 
as  none  of  these  things  became  personally  dis- 
agreeable by  coming  too  near  himself;  but  to 
Philip  Owen,  whose  heart's  desire  was  to  do  his 
followers  the  highest  good  by  elevating  their  na- 
ture temporally  and  spiritually,  these  evidences  of 
the  grossly  depraved  hearts  of  heathens  were  most 
trying.  He  overheard  ribald  stories  and  impure 
words.  What  good  to  cleanse  the  stream  while 
the  source  remained  so  foul  ?  Nothing  but  the 
transforming  grace  of  Christ  could  act  effectually 
here. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  335 

His  natives  doubted  at  first  whether  their  old 
master  had  the  same  God  as  the  new  master. 
They  thought  the  latter  a  fool  for  resting  on  the 
Sabbath-day,  thus  lengthening  the  time  of  his 
journeyings ;  and  when  he  told  them  that  it  was 
the  command  of  his  God,  the  perplexity  was  still 
greater  as  to  whether  Mr.  Enfield  had  not  wor- 
shipped some  other  white  God  who  had  not  given 
such  command. 

Another  enigma  to  them  was  Mr.  Owen's  mo- 
tive for  travelling  about  and  enduring  so  many 
hardships  in  consequence.  He  had  no  blankets  to 
barter,  no  beads,  no  brass  rings  or  wire,  no  cotton 
print.  He  did  not  want  to  trade  anywhere.  He 
had  no  abundance  of  powder  and  shot  and  guns, 
and  could  let  the  noblest  herd  of  elands  or  gems- 
bok  pass  undisturbed,  unless  indeed  food  was  re- 
quired by  his  followers.  His  wagon  was  no 
curiosity-shop  of  skins  and  skulls,  trophies  of 
hard-won  victories  over  the  carnivora.  He  was 
going  about  simply  and  solely  to  tell  the  people 
tidings  concerning  a  future  life,  a  judgment  and  a 
great  God. 

When  his  own  natives  got  familiarized  to  this 
fact  of  his  motive,  it  still  remained  no  small  power 
in  every  kraal  they  visited.  Here  was  a  white 


336  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

man  wandering  through  deserts  and  forests,  spend- 
ing his  money  and  living  a  very  hard  life  of  it, 
from  the  desire  to  tell  them  something  about  his 
God.  They  could  appreciate,  poor  savages  though 
they  were,  the  single-heartedness  of  this  design. 
They  could  estimate  that  the  missionary  thought 
that  knowledge  of  great  importance  indeed  which 
he  took  such  pains  to  communicate.  Other  white 
men  came  with  wagons  through  their  countries, 
but  it  was  to  get  as  much  out  of  the  blacks  as 
they  could — to  collect  skins  or  ivory,  or  ostrich 
feathers  or  oxen  with  as  small  an  expenditure  as 
possible  of  beads,  or  red  curtain  binding,  or  blue 
salempore  (a  sort  of  coarse  calico),  or  brass  wire, 
or  cheap  blankets.  Mr.  Owen  was  aware  that  a 
gain  of  two  hundred  per  cent,  on  a  transaction 
was  reckoned  by  some  of  these  gentry  "  fair 
profit." 

Through  the  native  countries  also  wandered  that 
other  specimen  of  the  white  man  whom  the  tribes 
rather  contemned,  while  applauding  individual  in- 
stances of  his  prowess  and  profiting  largely  by 
his  wholesale  slaughter  of  animal  life — the  Eu- 
ropean sportsman.  "  Had  he  no  meat  at  home 
that  he  came  over  the  blue  water  and  worked  so 
hard?  Could  he  not  slay  oxen  at  home?"  He 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  337 

seems  a  fool  to  them  in  thus  risking  life  and  limb 
for  no  return.     Does  he  seem  much  wiser  to  us  ? 

In  contrast  to  both  these  classes  the  disinterest- 
edness of  the  missionary  came  out  in  strong  light 
before  the  native  mind.  Mr.  Owen  saw  that  by 
this  very  fact  of  itineration  he  secured  attention 
for  his  message,  and  no  native,  small  or  great,  old 
or  young,  to  whom  he  could  make  himself  under- 
stood did  he  meet  without  telling  him  or  her  of 
the  ruin  of  sin  and  of  that  eternal  Saviour  who 
alone  can  deliver. 

The  seed  did  not  always  fall  by  the  wayside. 
Years  afterward  circumstances  came  to  light  and 
occurrences  were  reported  which  proved  that  some 
had  striven  against  and  escaped  the  pollutions  of 
the  heathen  world  through  even  this  gleam  of  the 
knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

THE    BALALA     FOUNDLING. 

'N  the  night  after  the  Sabbath  spent  beside 
0)  m  the  stone  fountain  before  described  our 
travellers  were  aroused  by  the  approach  of 
a  party  of  natives,  who,  after  much  noise 
and  confusion  in  the  watering  of  their  cattle,  biv- 
ouacked about  daybreak  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood. Mr.  Owen  would  not  let  them  go 
without  fulfilling  his  errand,  and  waited  patiently 
till  toward  the  noon-heats,  notwithstanding  the 
representations  of  his  followers  that  they  ought  to 
be  gone.  When  he  went  among  the  new  arrivals 
they  were  as  usual  anxious  to  know  if  he  would 
trade.  Had  he  no  cloth,  no  brass  wire,  no  beads  ? 
He  told  them  that  he  had  the  most  valuable  mer- 
chandise possible,  and  so  began  to  preach  the 
gospel. 

Some  among  them  had  heard  a  smattering  of  it 
before.  They  were  travelling  south  with  thousands 
of  skins  to  barter  for  divers  European  valuables, 

338 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  339 

therefore  by  much  more  precious  in  their  eyes 
seemed  a  single  kaross  than  all  Mr.  Owen  could 
tell  them ;  just  as  in  our  churches  on  Sundays 
numbers  of  men  buried  in  business  sit  under  the 
sounds  from  the  pulpit,  and  in  very  truth  deem  a 
page  from  their  crowded  ledgers  more  worth  than 
all  the  words  of  life  that  may  be  uttered  by  the 
preacher. 

"  The  foolishness  of  preaching !"  Often  did  the 
wandering  missionary  think  of  this  expression,  yet 
thus  for  the  most  part  has  it  pleased  God  to  save 
those  who  believe.  "  The  weakness  of  God  is 
stronger  than  men."  This  was  the  compensating 
verse. 

He  never  shunned  to  declare  to  the  natives  their 
sins — defilements  which  to  the  callous  conscience 
of  a  pagan  seem  nothing.  Perhaps  this  very  party 
of  traders  had  robbed  a  helpless  village  of  its 
property,  carrying  off  its  store  of  skins  to  add  to 
their  own  thousands,  for  might  only  is  right  in 
those  savage  regions.  Sometimes  did  the  mission- 
ary feel  as  if  the  indirect  results  of  Christianity 
upon  the  whole  atmosphere  of  a  nation  could  only 
be  appreciated  by  one  who  bad  some  residence 
among  the  altogether  heathen — their  lawlessness, 
violence,  impurity,  the  unseemliness  of  their  very 


340  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

hilarity,  the  deep  depravity  underlying  everything, 
and  unchecked  by  restraints  of  society  and  civil- 
ization, were  so  monstrous  when  viewed  in  the 
light  of  English  memories. 

They  listened  stolidly  to  the  most  solemn  truths. 
Indeed,  the  idea  of  the  day  of  judgment  gave  them 
some  concern,  because  all  their  cattle  and  posses- 
sions would  be  destroyed.  Would  the  white  man's 
land  also  be  burned  up  in  the  great  fire — the 
country  where  the  sands  of  the  blue  water  were 
many-coloured  beads  ?  Conscience  seemed  utterly 
dead.  Only  the  strong  stimulant  of  fear  had  any 
effect. 

Some  of  them  laughed  when  Mr.  Owen  kneeled 
to  pray  to  his  unseen  God.  The  attitude  appeared 
to  them  ridiculous.  Oh  for  the  promised  hour 
when  swart  Ethiopia  shall  stretch  out  her  hands 
unto  God !  Come  it  assuredly  will,  as  He  who 
inspired  the  Scriptures  is  true,  despite  all  present 
discouragements  and  disheartenings,  while  a  people 
are  gathering  out  of  the  Gentiles  for  the  name  of 
Christ. 

As  Mr.  Owen  was  going  away  to  order  the  in- 
span  of  his  own  party,  his  eye  fell  on  a  little  black 
child  who  was  waddling  toward  the  fire  with  a 
stick  iu  his  hands — imitating  the  actions  of  his 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  341 

elders  thus  far.  Now  there  was  not  a  woman  in 
the  company.  The  missionary  stopped  short  and 
looked  at  the  little  creature  arid  his  perfect  mimicry 
of  fire-making. 

"  Whose  son  is  the  child  ?" 

Nobody  knew.  He  was  one  of  the  "  Balala," 
the  "  poor"  or  wandering  tribes  of  the  desert,  they 
supposed.  They  had  picked  him  up  behind  a 
bush  some  days'  journey  northward.  Would  the 
white  man — and  greedily  all  the  black  eyes  spark- 
led and  rolled — would  the  white  man  buy  him  ? 
A  gun,  a  blanket,  a  few  yards  of  calico,  a  handful 
of  beads — coming  lower  in  their  demands  as  they 
heard  Mr.  Owen's  decided  refusal  to  have  any 
barter  on  the  subject. 

Yet  he  much  wished  to  take  the  poor  little 
mortal  and  try  some  experiment  of  training  on 
him.  He  turned  over  and  over  in  his  mind  every 
expedient  for  inducing  them  to  part  with  him 
without  actually  making  his  acquisition  a  matter 
of  purchase.  Finally,  by  Gilbert's  advice,  he  said 
nothing  more  about  it  to  the  traders,  whom  Gilbert 
perceived  to  be  already  tired  of  the  charge  of  the 
child  and  of  its  occasional  fractiousness,  and  quite 
likely  to  leave  it  behind  in  the  desert. 

When  the  mission-party  had  advanced  some  dis- 


342  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

lance,  and  their  telescope  showed  that  the  traders 
had  also  left  the  neighbourhood  of  the  fountain, 
Gilbert  returned  to  the  dying  fires  on  one  of  the 
pack-oxen.  There  he  found  the  little  Balala  child, 
tears  still  wet  and  shining  on  his  black  cheeks, 
alone  by  the  embers,  having  cried  himself  to  ex- 
haustion in  pretty  much  the  tones  of  the  universal 
language  of  distress  that  an  English  child  would 
use.  A.  meal  for  the  lions  or  hyenas  he  would 
prove  when  darkness  came  but  for  the  pity  of  the 
white  man.  The  momentary  impulse  of  some- 
thing like  compassion  which  had  stirred  some 
father's  heart  among  the  traders,  making  him 
snatch  up  the  perishing  child  and  fling  him  on  a 
pack-ox  when  first  they  saw  him  deserted  by  his 
natural  owners,  had  passed  away ;  the  burden  of 
his  comparative  helplessness  had  worn  it  out. 
This  was  to  be  expected  from  men  who  would  slay 
even  their  own  children  and  wives  in  a  fit  of  rage 
and  expose  their  aged  parents  to  the  terrible  deaths 
of  the  desert. 

The  Balala  child  was  more  terrified  by  the  ap- 
proach of  the  white  man  in  his  whitish  garments 
than  by  the  previous  solitude.  He  screamed  and 
ran  to  hide.  Quite  as  much  an  object  of  terror  to 
him  as  a  black  mau  would  be  to  an  English  infant, 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  343 

James  Gilbert  in  vain  put  on  his  sweetest  smiles 
and  spoke  the  most  endearing  words  he  could  sum- 
mon from  his  store  of  native  tongues.  All  blan- 
dishments were  useless.  He  was  finally  obliged  to 
take  possession  of  the  little  creature  by  main  force 
and  plant  him  before  on  the  ox's  back,  holding 
him  tightly  the  while.  After  a  short  space  the 
struggles  became  quieter,  the  cries  less  shrill,  as  if 
the  little  savage  were  realizing  the  hopelessness  of 
his  position.  Presently  his  captor  felt  the  small 
black  fingers  feeling  over  the  wonderful  white 
hand  that  grasped  him,  as  if  curiously — first  a 
touch,  then  a  pressure,  then  a  rub — a  regular  ex- 
perimentalizing as  to  the  texture  of  the  strange 
thing.  Gilbert  moved  his  own  fingers,  which  was 
viewed  with  grave  suspicion  and  an  extra  throb  of 
the  baby  heart.  An  interval  of  no  movement  en- 
couraged the  former  process  to  begin  again. 

"  He  was  the  drollest  little  lad !"  said  James, 
narrating  afterward  the  slow  steps  to  intimacy. 
"  Before  very  long  he  screwed  up  courage  to  veer 
round  and  stare  up  in  my  face,  and  as  smiling 
seemed  only  to  frighten  him,  I  kept  myself  quiet 
and  let  him  stare  his  fill ;  but  when  I  said  a  word 
he  roared  again  like  a  young  jackal  caught  in  a 
trap." 


344  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Thenceforth  the  child  became  by  gradual  degrees 
a  pet  and  plaything  to  the  whole  caravan,  and  es- 
pecially to  the  white  men.  He  soon  grew  accus- 
tomed to  the  novelties  that  surrounded  him,  and 
seemed  to  get  up  quite  an  attachment  for  his  de- 
liverer, Gilbert,  following  him  about  like  a  spaniel, 
nestling  at  his  feet  whenever  he  could  at  night,  and 
sleeping  quite  contentedly  with  his  cheek  against 
his  friend's  ox-hide  boot.  In  return,  Gilbert  was 
his  patron,  his  teacher,  so  far  as  the  little  black 
being  could  learn  anything.  Among  his  accom- 
plishments were  soon  numbered  the  use  of  three  or 
four  English  words,  including  our  national  "Thank 
you,"  which  was  an  astonishing  advance  in  civil- 
ization, gratitude  or  the  expression  of  it  being 
almost  unknown  among  these  savage  tribes. 

"  We'll  rear  him  a  little  Christian  with  the 
blessing  of  God,"  would  Gilbert  say.  "  Already, 
if  you  ask  him  where  God  lives,  he'll  point  up  to 
the  sky.  But  isn't  it  wonderful  how  one  sees  the 
savage  nature  peeping  out?  He's  as  ravenous 
over  meat  as  any  of  them.  I  found  him  yesterday 
in  a  tussle  with  one  of  the  dogs  as  big  as  himself 
for  the  piece  of  flesh  round  his  neck." 

For  be  it  known  to  the  reader  that  an  economy 
of  space  and  of  weight  was  effected  by  making  these 


THE  FOUNT  JIN  KLOOF.  345 

animals  carry  their  own  provision  in  the  shape  of 
a  necklace  of  meat.  A  hole  was  cut  in  a  large 
piece,  which  was  then  slipped  over  the  dog's  head. 
By  no  rolling  or  twisting  could  he  either  drag  it 
off  or  succeed  in  eating  it.  With  one  of  these  the 
little  Balala  had  entered  into  a  duel  for  possession 
of  the  viand. 

"  And  when  he  gets  his  dinner  he  proceeds  to 
roast  it  on  a  stick  with  all  the  gravity  of  the  oldest 
Hottentot.  He's  a  queer  little  beggar,  that's  what 
he  is !  But  taking  him  so  young,  we  might  make 
something  of  him." 

"  Man  is  born  like  a  wild  ass's  colt,"  was  Mr. 
Owen's  reflection.  "As  soon  as  they  are  born 
they  go  astray." 

The  stores  of  the  wagon  were  now  quite  ex- 
hausted, with  the  exception  of  a  little  coffee  and 
rice,  which  Mr.  Owen  thought  right  to  reserve  for 
any  emergency  of  illness.  The  whole  party  de- 
pended on  their  guns  and  game.  Sometimes  they 
had  a  glut  of  meat,  though  Mr.  Owen  never  would 
allow  any  animal,  unless  noxious  or  dangerous,  to 
be  killed  for  the  killing's  sake.  He  abhorred  the 
wholesale  slaughter  of  life  which  is  often  carried 
on  in  ihese  regions.  He  had  met  since  he  came 
to  Africa  amateur  hunters  who  talked  of  their 


346  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  sport"  in  slaying  or  maiming  multitudes  of  de- 
fenceless wild  creatures,  beautiful  antelopes  and  the 
like,  leaving  scores  of  carcasses  which  might  have 
been  instinct  with  life  and  joy  mere  carrion  on  the 
waste,  a  feast  for  vultures  and  \volves.  This  wan- 
ton destruction  of  God's  creatures  no  thinking 
man  will  contemplate  without  pain. 

Had  the  same  amount  of  energy  and  zeal  been 
spent  in  endeavours  to  civilize  the  savage  followers 
of  these  sportsmen  or  to  save  their  souls,  what 
blessed  results  might  have  been  bestowed  by  the 
God  of  means !  And  when  we  look  at  the  hard- 
ships and  dangers  the  European  hunter  volun- 
tarily undergoes  in  pursuit  of  what  he  calls 
pleasure,  the  miseries  from  extreme  heat  and 
extreme  cold,  from  starvation  and  from  thirst,  the 
endurance  of  savage  society  and  all  the  various 
moods  of  lawless  men,  the  chances  of  being  mur- 
dered or  devoured  or  carried  off  by  the  sicknesses 
indigenous  to  the  climate,  we  can  only  wonder  and 
regret  that  all  the  toil  and  risk  were  not  incurred 
for  a  nobler  object. 

It  were  long  to  tell  of  Mr.  Owen's  wanderings 
through  the  less  and  the  greater  Namaqua  lands. 
Sometimes  he  would  come  on  an  isolated  mission- 
station  and  refresh  his  soul  by  communion  with  a 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  347 

Christian  brother.  Many  thoughts  became  settled 
convictions  by  such  intercourse.  He  found  reason 
to  conclude  that  the  income  allotted  to  a  mission- 
ary from  home  is  much  too  small  as  remuneration. 
Perhaps  where  there  was  a  garden  and  corn-fields 
could  be  cultivated,  it  may  suffice  for  other  neces- 
saries, but  surely  stinting  is  not  a  generous  policy 
toward  these  self-denying  men,  who  are  all  the 
while  labouring  to  construct  a  fruitful  field  out  of 
a  wilderness,  building  houses,  laying  out  gardens, 
fencing  in  land — doing  all  the  work  of  settlers  in 
addition  to  their  spiritual  duties,  and  this  for  no 
ulterior  advantage  to  their  families.  The  result 
of  their  life- toil  becomes  the  property  of  the  so- 
ciety who  sent  them  forth.  Doctor  Livingstone  is 
one  of  those  who  condemn  strongly  this  state  of 
things. 

Another  conviction  which  fastened  upon  Mr. 
Owen's  mind  was,  that  the  mission-station  is  use- 
ful just  in  proportion  as  it  combines  the  teaching 
of  civilization  with  the  teaching  of  the  gospel. 
And  before  his  eyes  grew  some  ideal  of  his  own — 
some  mission-station  which  should  be  self-support- 
ing, the  nucleus  of  light  for  a  district;  cottages 
surrounded  by  flourishing  gardens  and  fields — a 
school  of  agriculture  for  the  nomad  native — where 


348  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

he  should  see  examples  of  his  brethren  "clothed, 
and  in  their  right  mind."  And  central  of  all  the 
place  should  be  the  humble  house  of  worship, 
thronged  on  Sabbaths  by  a  dusky  congregation  ; 
and  their  minister,  one  Philip  Owen,  growing  gray 
among  them. 

A  beneficent  day-dream,  to  say  the  least  of  it. 
But  once,  when  he  said  something  of  the  immature 
idea  to  James  Gilbert,  that  practical  person  seized 
on  its  salient  points  at  once.  "  I  've  the  very  spot 
for  you,  sir !  Plenty  of  water,  a  good  soil,  wood 
enough,  fine  rocks  for  building,  and  people  a  deal 
easier  to  teach  than  these  flat-faced  Namaquas. 
The  Fountain  Kloof  is  your  ground,  sir !" 

Thenceforward  neither  seemed  to  think  that  the 
thought  need  he  wholly  visionary. 


CHAPTER    X.XXII. 

AMONG   THE    NAMAQUAS. 

'T  was  when  in  this  dreary  Namaqua-land 
that  Mr.  Owen  became  acquainted  more 
fully  with  the  marvellous  history  of  Chris- 
tian Africaner,  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
country,  and  a  trophy  of  divine  grace  nearly  as 
wonderful  as  the  apostle  Paul. 

For  his  natural  character  we  may  quote  the 
words  of  a  missionary,  who  said :  "  Soldiers  have 
been  sent,  who  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  succeed  in 
ridding  the  country  of  such  a  monster.  Neither 
religion  nor  government  can  restrain  or  subdue 
him."  He  was  called  the  Napoleon  of  South 
Africa  for  his  unscrupulous  ability.  For  hun- 
dreds of  miles  all  around  his  kraal  the  very  name 
of  Africaner  woke  the  deadliest  terror;  such  was 
his  hatred  of  the  mission-work  that  he  destroyed 
two  stations  utterly,  while  all  within  reach  ex- 
pected the  same  fate.  Surely,  this  man  might 
have  been  deemed  a  hopeless  savage,  but  the  grace 
of  God  is  infinite ! 

349 


350  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOf. 

In  1812,  John  Campbell,  of  Kiugsland,  who 
did  much  good  work  through  South  Africa  in 
founding  mission-stations  and  acting  as  pioneer  to 
the  teachers  of  the  gospel,  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
dreaded  chief  of  the  Namaquas,  asking  him  in 
friendly  terms  to  allow  the  missionaries  to  return 
to  a  settlement  whence  the  fear  of  his  violence  had 
driven  them.  Africaner  permitted  Mr.  Ebuer  to 
settle  at  Warm  Bath;  and  after  some  time,  Mr. 
Moffat  was  sent  to  him  by  the  directors  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society.  On  his  road  to  the 
chief's  kraal,  he  heard  many  agreeable  predictions 
of  his  fate.  One  farmer  said  Africaner  would  set 
him  up  as  a  target  to  be  shot  at ;  another,  that  he 
would  make  a  drinking-cup  of  the  missionary's 
skull.  A  kind  old  woman  bade  him  farewell  with 
tears,  saying,  "  that  if  he  were  old,  she  would  not 
weep ;  but  he  was  young,  and  going  to  become  a 
prey  to  that  monster !" 

And  here  are  some  of  the  devoted  missionary's 
earliest  experiences : 

"  I  was  left  alone,  with  a  people  suspicious  in 
the  extreme;  jealous  of  their  rights,  which  they 
had  obtained  at  the  point  of  the  sword :  and  the 
best  of  whom  Mr.  Ebner  described  as  a  sharp 
thorn.  I  had  no  friend  or  brother  with  whom  I 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  351 

could  participate  in  the  communion  of  saints — none 
to  whom  I  could  look  for  counsel  or  advice.  A 
barren  and  miserable  country ;  a  small  salary,  about 
twenty-five  pounds  per  annum.  No  grain,  and 
consequently  no  bread,  nor  prospect  of  getting 
any,  from  the  want  of  water  to  cultivate  the 
ground ;  and  destitute  of  the  means  of  sending  to 
the  colony.  These  circumstances  led  to  great 
searchings  of  heart,  to  see  if  I  had  hitherto  aimed 
at  doing  and  suffering  the  will  of  Him  in  whose 
service  I  had  embarked.  .  .  .  Soon  after  my  stated 
services  commenced,  which  were  every  morning 
and  evening,  with  school  for  three  or  four  hours 
during  the  day,  I  was  cheered  with  tokens  of  the 
divine  blessing.  The  chief  himself  attended  with 
such  regularity  that  I  might  as  well  doubt  the 
morning's  dawn  as  his  attendance  on  the  means  of 
grace." 

Thus  did  the  day  dawn  upon  that  region  of 
South  Africa.  Soon  the  Testament  became  the 
constant  companion  of  the  chief.  "  Often  have  I 
seen  him,"  writes  Rev.  Robert  Moffat,  "  nearly  the 
livelong  day  under  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock, 
eagerly  perusing  the  pages  of  divine  inspiration ; 
or  in  his  hut  he  would  sit,  unconscious  of  the 
affairs  of  a  family  around,  or  of  the  entrance  of  a 


352  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

stranger,  with  his  eye  gazing  on  the  blessed  book, 
and  his  mind  wrapped  up  in  things  divine.  Many 
were  the  nights  he  sat  with  me  on  a  great  stone  at 
the  door  of  my  habitation,  conversing  with  me  till 
the  dawn  of  another  day,  on  creation,  providence, 
redemption  and  the  glories  of  the  heavenly  world." 
Africaner  became  a  thoroughly  converted  man  ;  of 
whom  Mr.  Moffat  could  testify  that  "his  very 
faults  seemed  to  lean  to  virtue's  side.  One  day 
when  seated  together,  I  happened,  in  absence  of 
mind,  to  be  gazing  steadfastly  on  him.  He  in- 
quired the  cause.  My  answer  was :  1 1  was  trying 
to  picture  to  myself  your  carrying  fire  and  sword 
through  the  country,  and  I  could  not  think  how 
eyes  like  yours  could  smile  at  human  woe.'  He 
replied  not,  but  shed  a  flood  of  tears  !"  Truly  was 
the  lion  become  a  lamb ! 

"  I  have  long  enough  been  engaged  .in  the  sefc 
vice  of  the  devil,"  would  he  say,  "  but  now  I  am 
free  from  this  bondage;  Jesus  has  delivered  me; 
him  will  I  serve — with  him  will  I  abide."  There 
was  one  Berend,  a  chief  of  the  Griquas,  with  whom 
he  had  formerly  desperate  feud;  often  had  they 
encountered  one  another  in  bloody  battle.  Now, 
once,  when  Africaner  journeyed  with  all  his  retinue 
six  days'  travel  across  country  to  Lattakoo,  for 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  353 

the  purpose  of  bringing  thither  the  mission  furni- 
ture and  books,  he  met  his  olden  enemy  Berend  in 
the  missionary's  tent,  a  Christian  brother !  They 
clasped  hands ;  they  sang  praises  to  their  common 
Father  in  heaven;  they  knelt  together  at  the 
mercy-seat  of  their  common  Saviour.  What  won- 
der that  the  missionary  wept  for  joy! 

Such  was  the  narrative,  though  not  in  Moffat's 
words,  which  gladdened  the  heart  of  Philip  Owen 
in  this  dry  and  thirsty  Namaqua-land.  The  gos- 
pel had  been  a  witness  to  the  nations  of  immortals 
even  here;  and  people  had  been  gathered  out  to 
the  glory  of  Christ's  name. 

The  tribes  which  Mr.  Owen  met  seemed  most 
unpromising  soil  for  labour.  Since  he  had  passed 
the  Orange  river,  both  country  and  people  had 
been  degenerating.  There  were  immense  sandy 
plains,  broken  occasionally  by  terraced  hills  of 
rock ;  the  land  was  strewn  with  glittering  quartz, 
shining  hard  and  sharp  under  the  cloudless  sky. 
Mimosas  and  ebony  trees  grow  along  the  rare 
water-courses ;  and  this  is  the  prospect  day  after 
day  for  wearisome  weeks,  only  varied  by  an  occa- 
sional nest  of  round  mat-huts,  where  the  scattered 
Namaquas  live  and  herd  cattle. 

They  are  Hottentots  of  even  a  lower  species  than 

23 


354  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

the  dwellers  in  Cape  Colony — even  more  sensual 
and  besotted  with  the  sins  of  savagery.  They 
seem  as  if  the  very  power  to  comprehend  any- 
thing in  the  least  abstract,  an)  thing  not  pre- 
sented in  actuality  before  their  eyes,  were  entirely 
wanting. 

One  day,  arriving  near  such  a  kraal,  Mr.  Owen 
strolled  toward  it  as  the  oxen  were  unyoking.  A 
number  of  the  inhabitants  were  lying  about  list- 
lessly, for  the  Namaquas  are  the  idlest  people  pos- 
sible, and  must  he  severely  hungry  before  induced 
to  exertion.  But  all  were  somewhat  stirred  by  the 
presence  of  the  white  man.  Some,  working  at  the 
mat-making,  which  furnishes  walls  for  their  huts 
as  well  as  helps  to  eke  out  their  garments,  left  off 
boring  holes  through  the  rushes  or  twisting  the 
fibre  strings,  in  order  to  gaze  at  the  novelty.  To 
make  merchandise  of  him  was  the  first  thought ; 
he  was  obliged  to  select  a  "father"  and  a  "mother" 
on  the  spot,  whose  privilege  was  to  choose  anything 
belonging  to  him  which  they  might  fancy  and  take 
possession  of  it.  True,  the  same  boon  was  ac- 
corded to  the  adopted  son;  but  what  should  he 
covet  ?  A  filthy  skin  kaross,  or  an  amulet  of  lions' 
claws,  or  a  throatlet  of  black  beads,  their  own 
manufacture,  and  composed  of  resin  and  charcoal  ? 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  355 

None  of  these  items  of  wealth  had  charms  for  Mr. 
Owen. 

But  he  yielded  to  the  custom,  on  condition  that 
the  whole  kraal  would  listen  to  what  he  had  to 
say.  Jan  was  interpreter.  The  missionary  told 
them  of  the  great  God  above  the  sky.  He  told 
them  of  their  own  inevitable  death,  and  of  the 
rising  again. 

"Namaquas  knew  that  already!"  Mr.  Owen 
was  surprised,  and  made  Jan  repeat  the  information 
twice,  to  make  sure  of  its  correctness.  Then  he 
thought  that  the  knowledge  might  be  a  remnant 
of  some  missionary  teaching.  But  no;  they  re- 
cited a  legend  about  it — one  of  those  wild  stories 
in  which  fable  encrusts  truth. 

"  Namaquas  never  eat  the  hare.  When  a  youth 
becomes  a  man,  he  durst  never  again  touch  the 
hare ;  it  is  food  for  women  and  children.  Where- 
fore? Because  once  the  moon" — and  the  speaker 
raised  his  hand  toward  the  crescent  on  the  evening 
horizon — "  the  moon  spake  to  the  hare,  and  said, 
Go  abroad  among  men,  and  give  them  this  message 
from  me:' 'As  I,  the  moon,  die  and  am  born  again, 
so  shall  you  die  and  be  again  alive !'  The  hare 
went  on  his  errand;  but  he  said,  instead  of  the 
right  words,  '  As  I  die  and  am  not  born  again !' 


356  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

The  moon  asked  him  what  lie  had  spoken;  and 
was  very  much  enraged,  saying,  What  have  you 
said  to  men  ?  '  You  shall  die  and  not  live  again  !' 
Whereupon  the  moon  hurled  a  stick  at  the  hare, 
•which  split  open  his  lip,  as  all  persons  see  to  this 
day.  The  hare  fled,  and  is  flying  still  away  from 
the  angry  moon  and  from  angry  men." 

Surely  here  is  a  hint  of  the  immortality  of  the 
soul !  Encouraged  by  the  reception  of  the  story, 
another  JSTamaqua  would  tell  another  tale.  Wherein 
Mr.  Owen  also  found  some  dim  indications  of  for- 
gotten truth.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  many  days' 
journey  to  the  north-east  there  was  a  huge  rock, 
bearing  the  footprints  of  every  sort  of  animal  in 
the  country;  and  here  man  and  animals  lived  to- 
gether in  perfect  friendship  until  one  day  the  Deity 
appeared  and  dispersed  them  all.  Eden  and  Babel 
combined  had  apparently  formed  the  groundwork 
for  this  legend. 

So  then  the  white  man  himself  had  a  story  to 
tell  them — the  grand  old  story  of  peace  and  God's 
good-will  to  men.  Alas,  for  the  deadened  ears  upon 
which  the  heavenly  message  fell !  Brutified  by 
long  generations  of  hereditary  animalism,  these 
Namaquas  could  grasp  none  but  sensuous  ideas. 
Yet,  if  the  wbite  teacher  stayed  with  them,  they 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  357 

would  build  him  a  mat-hut,  their  noblest  edifice ; 
they  would  give  him  goats'  milk  and  curds  for  fare, 
and  his  "  father"  and  "  mother"  would  confer  on 
him  all  the  protection  of  adoption. 

"  They  have  an  eye  to  the  wagon  and  its  con- 
tents," was  Gilbert's  commentary  on  the  offer. 
"  They'd  expect  us  to  feed  and  clothe  them  in  re- 
turn for  their  listening  to  the  preaching.  I've  heard 
stories  of  their  ingratitude  —  why  they  haven't  a 
word  in  all  their  language  to  say  common  thanks 
with,  as  I'm  told!" 

It  was  at  this  kraal  that  Gilbert  took  to  repair- 
ing the  wagon,  whose  jolting  and  straining  had  be- 
come almost  intolerable.  No  old,  unseaworthy  craft 
in  a  whole  gale  of  wind  could  creak  and  gride  and 
strain  more  than  this  ship  of  the  desert  when  set 
in  motion.  The  arid  air  had  shrunk  and  warped 
its  woodwork  in  all  directions,  while  from  the 
same  cause  its  ironwork  was  fresh  and  bright, 
giving  it  the  appearance  of  being  almost  new.  A 
knife  might  lie  under  the  open  heavens  for  years 
in  that  land  and  not  a  speck  of  rust  grow  on  its 
blade.  Often  had  Gilbert  taken  off  the  wheels  of 
the  wagon  and  steeped  them  in  a  muddy  vley  for 
nights ;  and  as  to  the  amount  of  grease  they  con- 
sumed, it  was  something  wonderful.  "  I  shouldn't 


358  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

be  surprised  if  the  whole  concern  blazed  up  like  a 
match-box,"  he  would  say. 

In  his  repairs,  he  had  recourse  to  many  of  the 
rude  native  arts.  Reims  —  which  are  leathern 
thongs,  sometimes  eighty  or  ninety  feet  long,  and 
essential  to  every  traveller's  equipment — with  strips 
of  green  hide,  bound  up  several  wooden  wounds, 
and  were  used  as  tires  to  the  wheels.  Some  new 
iron  pins  which  he  wanted  larger  for  the  enlarged 
orifices  of  the  shrunken  timber,  were  manufactured 
by  a  Caffre  who  had  a  smattering  of  the  smith's 
trade.  The  bellows  were  original,  being  a  clay 
tube  attached  to  twin  bags  of  skin,  which  had  for 
handles  a  piece  of  a  cow's  horn,  and  were  worked 
with  much  adroitness  so  as  to  produce  a  forcible 
current  of  air  on  the  fire.  The  Namaquas  looked 
on  with  as  much  wonder  as  their  stolid  natures 
could  muster  at  these  unknown  processes  of  art. 
Yet  had  they  a  valuable  process  of  their  own  to 
prevent  wood  warping,  of  which  Gilbert  made  use. 
They  dug  a  trench  and  lighted  a  fire  all  along  the 
bottom ;  when  it  was  burned  to  embers,  they  laid 
sand  above  it,  and  the  timber  over  that  covered 
again  with  sand.  For  three  days  the  wood  was 
thus  baked,  and  then  warranted  never  to  split  or 
shrink  from  any  amount  of  sunshine. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  359 

Meanwhile,  Mr.  Owen  was  not  idle.  The  sick 
were  brought  to  him  from  all  quarters,  that  they 
might  be  made  well ;  his  medicine-chest  was  pretty 
nearly  emptied  of  remedies.  He  had  long  since 
discovered  that  a  little  medical  knowledge  is  the 
most  valuable  adjunct  possible  to  the  missionary 
of  the  gospel.  It  secures  the  friendship  of  the 
natives  to  heal  their  ailments ;  and  European  means 
seem  so  simple  and  are  so  painless  as  to  give  the 
savage  mind  a  high  respect  for  the  operator.  The 
native  who  has  been  accustomed  to  have  his  rheu- 
matism doctored  by  cutting  niches  all  over  the 
flesh  of  the  limb,  and  rubbing  in  pungent  herbs, 
is  much  pleased  to  find  the  easy  prescriptions  of 
warmth  and  a  lotion  well  rubbed  more  efficacious 
than  the  former  torture.  Ophthalmia  is  a  very 
general  disease  among  them,  engendered  chiefly 
by  their  foul  mode  of  living.  For  this  the  native 
doctors  cup  on  the  temples,  their  rude  cupping- 
glass  an  antelope's  hollow  horn  with  a  hole  in  the 
small  end,  stopped  by  a  bit  of  resin  when  the  air 
has  been  sucked  out ;  likewise  they  apply  the  pun- 
gent smoke  of  certain  roots ;  and  Mr.  Owen  gained 
great  fame  by  his  curing  some  with  whom  the 
above  remedies  had  failed  by  a  wash  of  a  solution 
of  nitrate  of  silver.  He  came  to  the  conclusion 


360  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

that  all  the  native  diseases,  particularly  the  preva- 
lent pneumonia,  rheumatism  and  fevers,  would  be 
materially  diminished  in  frequency  and  intensity 
by  that  first  effort  toward  civilization,  the  wearing 
of  clothes. 

But  the  effect  of  the  missionary's  success  was 
rather  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  the  native  doctors, 
whose  fees,  graduated  according  to  the  possessions 
of  the  patient,  would  be  likely  to  disappear  if  such 
cures  went  on.  All  their  witchcraft  and  charms 
would  soon  be  at  a  discount  among  their  most  de- 
voted followers.  They  tried  to  agitate  against  their 
powerful  rival  and  stir  up  popular  prejudice.  But 
even  the  Namaquas  could  perceive  the  disinterest- 
edness of  the  white  man  in  contrast  with  the  witch- 
doctor's cupidity;  whose  first  process,  before  at- 
tempting cure,  was  invariably  to  select  the  most 
valuable  beast  belonging  to  the  sick  person  and 
take  possession  of  it  as  his  own.  Then  he  would 
condescend  to  charm  away  the  snake  cr  frog  or 
beetle  which  was  working  all  the  malady 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

WALFISCH      BAY. 

| 

|  NE  of  the  species  of  food  which  the  Divine 
Provider  has  mercifully  spread  forth  for 
his  creatures  in  this  vast  desert  of  JSama- 
qua-land  is  the  fruit  called  "  naras."  Upon 
the  sandiest  heaps  its  creeper-like  sprays  grasp  the 
shifting  soil  together,  and  seem  to  have  a  power 
of  extracting  nutriment  from  the  most  unpromising 
materials.  From  these  sprays  spring  the  gourd- 
like  fruit,  yellowish-green  externally  and  about  the 
size  of  a  large  turnip,  and  when  cut  open  the  pulp 
reveals  itself  of  the  richest  orange  hue,  imbedding 
seeds  which  resemble  blanched  almonds,  very  in- 
viting to  behold.  Even  the  carnivorous  animals 
eat  "  naras/'  and  delight  in  it.  The  natives  boil 
it  down  into  sticky,  sweetish  cakes,  which  form 
part  of  their  household  provision.  Mr.  Owen  saw 
them  first  at  this  kraal,  almost  the  only  symptom 
of  regard  for  the  future  displayed  in  the  conduct 

of  the  besotted  people,  who  live  verily  from  day 

Ml 


362  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

to  day  with  their  longest  forecast  of  time — to- 
morrow. 

The  missionary  left  them  and  proceeded  still 
northward.  His  heart  was  grieved  for  these  tribes 
of  immortals  whom  he  saw  going  down  into  a 
dark  eternity.  He  could  only  take  refuge  in  the 
sovereignty  of  God.  His  reason  would  have  asked 
questions  which  the  Author  of  revelation  has  not 
seen  fit  to  answer ;  but  he  could  find  in  the  Bible 
the  one  analogous  case  of  the  Ninevites,  who  were 
held  responsible  for  their  evil  ways,  though  they 
were  without  a  written  law,  without  a  teacher  from 
God.  Even  so  is  it  with  the  heathen,  to  whom 
the  Most  High  leaves  "  not  himself  without  wit- 
ness," though  it  be  only  in  the  supply  of  their 
bodily  wants  and  the  imparting  of  the  joys  of  ex- 
istence, for  he  sends  rain  from  heaven  and  fruitful 
seasons,  filling  their  hearts  with  food  and  gladness. 

Often  through  the  country  our  travellers  came 
upon  cairns  of  stones  formed  by  the  natives  casting 
pebbles  together  over  a  grave.  Jan  the  Hottentot 
asserted  that  in  doing  so  they  prayed  some  sort  of 
prayer  to  a  mysterious  being  named  Heitjebib, 
whom  they  considered  to  dwell  in  the  grave.  It 
was  the  only  trace  of  even  the  superstitions  of  re-> 
ligiousiiess  discernible  through  all  the  habits  of 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  363 

the  tribes.  No  temples,  no  idols,  no  priesthood, 
no  shadow  of  belief  in  any  deity,  save  this  sole 
supplication  of  fear  beside  the  dead. 

With  the  usual  vicissitudes  of  sick  and  strayed 
oxen,  adventures  with  wild  animals,  visits  of 
kraals  and  continual  drought,  our  friends  journey- 
ed on  until  Mr.  Owen  fell  ill  with  the  fever  of  the 
country,  and  there  was  an  enforced  halt. 

He  had  been  ailing  on  former  occasions  with  this 
intermittent  ague,  but  nothing  like  so  badly  as 
now.  Wrapped  in  the  warmest  clothes  before  a 
large  fire  at  noonday,  the  nearly  vertical  sun 
shining  over  his  head,  his  nerves  shivered  and  his 
teeth  chattered  with  cold.  Then  again  in  the  hot 
fit  he  would  suffer  from  agonizing  pains  all  over 
his  body — pains  which  constrained  him  to  cry  out. 
Poor  Gilbert  was  bewildered.  He  tended  the 
missionary  night  and  day  with  a  woman's  careful- 
ness, and  like  his  shadow  was  the  Caffre  lad  Sack- 
aboni.  "I  never  thought  'twas  in  him,"  would 
Gilbert  say  afterward.  "  Why,  I've  seen  the  tears 
dropping  from  tHem  black  eyes  of  his  as  he's  been 
a-chafing  of  his  master's  feet,  just  from  looking  at 
him  so  ill,  and  it's  my  belief  he  didn't  get  a  wink 
himself  all  the  while.  There's  nothing  draws  me 
to  a  person  like  heart,  sir — nothing ;  and  I  knew 


364  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Sackaboni  would  turn  out  some  way  comfortable 
and  respectable  from  that  time." 

And  when  the  dear  master  began  to  get  better, 
but  loathed  the  food  of  the  desert  and  longed  un- 
availingly  for  English  comforts,  the  Caffre  lad 
would  go  off  with  his  gun  for  miles,  at  the  im- 
minent risk  of  being  lost  in  the  sameness  of  the 
wilderness,  to  try  and  shoot  something  which 
might  possibly  be  eaten  by  the  invalid.  Great 
was  his  joy  once,  returning  with  a  small  bird 
about  the  size  and  plumage  of  a  curlew — a  dikkop, 
which  somewhat  resembles  woodcock,  and  which 
he  remembered  Mr.  Enfield  to  have  liked  much. 
That  night  Mr.  Owen  was  nearly  thrown  back 
into  the  worst  stage  of  his  illness  by  a  very  nat- 
ural commotion  among  his  retainers  at  the  ap- 
proach of  a  lion  or  lions.  "  Ongeama,  ongeama !" 
shouted  the  Namaquas,  when  a  long,  low,  moaning 
rumbling,  like  distant  thunder,  sounded  some  way 
off.  Forthwith  the  fires  were  redoubled,  and  the 
tin  dishes,  being  the  readiest  mode  of  making 
abundant  noise,  were  seized  on  and  used  as  cym- 
bals and  tambourines  for  some  hours  with  might 
and  main  in  order  to  keep  off  the  brutes.  The 
oxen  were  trembling  violently,  and  made  several 
efforts  to  break  loose,  which  would  have  been  their 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  365 

utter  destruction,  for  such  is  the  inherent  dread 
of  the  lion  concerning  traps  that  he  will  walk 
within  a  few  yards  of  an  ox  tethered  without 
touching  it,  whereas  if  the  animal  were  not  fasten- 
ed, he  would  bound  upon  it  and  crush  its  bones 
immediately.  So  these  lions  had  to  content  them- 
selves with  roaring  at  the  prey  they  dared  not 
seize.  An  occasional  glare  of  sparks  from  the  fire 
would  throw  light  farther  into  the  darkness,  and 
reveal  a  dread  shape  sitting  on  its  haunches  like  a 
dog,  with  every  hair  of  its  mane  erect  and  fierce 
eyes  gleaming  back  the  redness  of  the  blaze;  or 
another  walking  to  and  fro  with  short  angry  turns, 
its  tail  lashing  the  dust  into  a  little  cloud  at  every 
stride  and  periodical  growls  escaping  from  among 
its  hungry  fangs.  Comfortable  sentries  these ! 
The  natives  redoubled  their  tin-dish  accompani- 
ment. "When  Gilbert  would  have  fired,  they  be- 
sought him  not  to  infuriate  the  monsters  and  bring 
them  bounding  into  the  midst  of  the  bivouac. 
How  many  more  might  be  in  the  blackness  be- 
yond !  They  shouted  additionally  at  the  idea ; 
and  one  Namaqua  could  show  on  his  arm  marks 
of  lion's  teeth  months  old,  not  yet  healed,  for  the 
virus  of  the  slaver  makes  the  wound  like  that  from 
gunshot.  And  all  had  some  terrible  adventure  to 


366  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

relate.  And  so  they  went  on  encouraging  one  an- 
other till  morning  light,  and  when  the  sun  had 
risen  went  cautiously  in  bands  to  behold  the  foot- 
prints and  have  great  chattering  in  several  dialects 
over  them.  It  was  curious  to  see  all  the  particu- 
lars their  hunting  skill  was  able  to  extract  from 
the  marks  on  the  sand  and  among  the  stones,  and 
all  the  mimicry  with  which  the  tale  was  told. 

Gilbert  would  stay  in  that  locality  no  other 
night,  though  it  was  close  to  a  good  reed-fountain 
and  the  water  farther  on  was  uncertain.  "The 
lions  may  be  bolder  to-morrow  night,  and  do  us 
some  real  mischief,"  he  argued.  "Better  take 
temptation  out  of  their  way." 

So  the  oxen  treked  on  for  some  miles,  as  far  as 
Mr.  Owen's  weak  state  could  bear  the  jolting.  All 
were  tied  up  with  double  care  by  reins  and  chains 
for  the  hours  of  darkness.  Large  fires  were  kin- 
dled and  everybody  went  to  sleep  comfortably. 
They  were  soon  startled  by  the  most  piercing 
shrieks  of  distress,  like  as  of  a  man  in  mortal 
agony  or  peril.  Even  the  sturdy  heart  of  Gilbert 
bounded  into  his  mouth,  as  the  phrase  is.  Mr. 
Owen  sprang  to  his  feet  as  if  electrified. 

"  Some  of  the  people  have  been  carried  off. 
Who  was  watching  ?  Where's  my  rifle,  Gilbert  ? 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  367 

Nobody  must  perish  without  an  effort  made  to  save 
him.  How  cruel — how  dreadful !" 

He  was  obliged  to  sit  down  again  in  his  utter 
weakness. 

"  I'm  in  great  hopes,  sir,  it's  none  of  the  peo- 
ple," said  Gilbert,  whose  faculties  had  been  arrang- 
ing themselves ;  "  but  we'll  soon  see,"  and  a  rapid 
glance  told  him  that  none  of  the  blacks  round  the 
other  fire  were  missing.  "  Thank  God  !"  he  ejacu- 
lated with  all  his  heart.  "  But  what  is  it?" 

One  native  had  seen  spoor  of  zebra  when  they 
were  outspanning ;  another  had  caught  sight  of  a 
herd  as  he  was  collecting  sticks  to  burn ;  and  all 
knew  of  the  bitter  outcries  of  that  animal  when  in 
suffering,  which  closely  resemble  the  agonized  ut- 
terance of  the  human  voice.  In  the  gray  dawn- 
light  they  could  see  a  lion  and  his  mate  gorging  at 
the  carcase,  some  hundred  yards  away,  with  an 
array  of  jackals  and  gathering  vultures  waiting  for 
leavings. 

The  object  of  our  travellers  was  to  reach  Wal- 
fisch  Bay,  an  inlet  on  the  west  coast  at  the  north- 
ern limit  of  Namaqua-land,  where  Mr.  Owen 
expected  to  find  letters  from  Europe,  and  where  he 
had  intended  to  refit  for  further  explorations 
among  the  tribes.  He  thought  at  one  time  to  go 


368  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

still  northward,  into  the  country  of  the  Damaras, 
a  far  more  fertile  region  than  that  he  had  been 
traversing,  consisting  indeed  of  "  boundless  savan- 
nahs," as  he  was  informed  by  a  passing  trader, 
and  whose  inhabitants  were  a  people  apparently 
more  likely  to  be  civilized  and  Christianized  than 
the  barbarous  Namaquas ;  but  his  illness  had 
changed  all  his  plans.  He  had  no  longer  the 
spirits  to  bear  up  against  the  difficulties  which  lay 
in  the  way  of  travel  through  an  almost  unknown 
country,  such  as  that  of  the  Damaras.  He  was 
perplexed.  Return  through  Namaqua-land  seemed 
intolerable,  indeed  almost  impracticable.  He  felt 
more  than  ever  thrown  upon  the  providence  of  his 
heavenly  Father ;  and  yet,  though  often  he  had 
prayed  and  did  pray  for  divine  direction,  what  a 
rooted  unwillingness  there  was  in  his  heart  to  wait 
upon  the  Lord's  will  and  to  bide  his  time  for 
guidance !  Ah,  how  often  do  we  with  words  com- 
mit our  affairs  to  God,  and  then  proceed  to  torment 
ourselves  by  over-anxious  efforts  at  arrangement 
and  painful  care  as  to  the  result,  as  if  he  had  not 
heard  and  would  not  answer ! 

They  heard  from  a  party  of  native  ivory-hunters 
that  there  were  white  men  three  days  ahead — white 
teachers,  as  was  averred.  What !  could  it  be  that 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  369 

missionaries  had  penetrated  into  this  sterile  land  ? 
Even  so.  At  the  distance  specified,  they  reached 
the  newly-born  station  of  Scheppmansdorf,  situated 
on  the  river  Knisip,  a  thread  of  water  flowing 
through  a  broad  sandy  bed,  which  showed  how 
much  larger  was  the  stream  in  former  years. 

Enormous  ridges  of  sand  rose  behind  the  two  or 
three  mission-buildings.  How  welcome  was  the 
sight  of  these  last  to  our  Europeans !  Mr.  Schepp- 
man,  the  founder  of  the  station,  was  some  years 
afterward  killed  by  the  discharge  of  his  own  gun 
while  passing  through  the  bush ;  a  bough  caught 
the  trigger.  But,  though,  in  the  mysterious  provi- 
dence of  God  his  work  was  thus  left  unfinished,  it 
was  worthily  taken  up  by  his  successors.  Other 
stations  have  grown  up  to  the  north  and  east  since 
then  :  Barmen,  Richterfeldt,  Rehoboth,  Schmelen's 
Hope  (suggestive  name !) — sparks  of  light  in  the 
darkness  of  a  dark  land.  May  it  be  God's  will 
that  from  thence  the  glory  of  the  Redeemer  shall 
without  ceasing  shine ! 

The  German  Rhenish  Missionary  Society  is  the 
great  labourer  in  this  section  of  the  South  African 
field.  A  distinguished  traveller,  Mr.  Anderson, 
has  borne  witness  to  the  devotedness  and  earnest 
Christianity  of  the  ministers  it  has  sent  forth. 

24 


370  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Rev.  Mr.  Hahn,  a  Russian  by  birth,  after  long 
study  of  the  Damara  language,  discovered  the  key 
to  its  construction,  and  was  able  to  compile  a  gram- 
mar and  dictionary  for  the  use  of  those  who  should 
come  after  him ;  the  first  step  to  the  translation  of 
the  sacred  Scriptures,  without  which  in  the  native 
tongue  a  missionary  may  be  said  to  lack  the  surest 
means  of  success. 

Mr.  Anderson's  history  of  the  station  at  Barmen 
is  as  follows  :  "  On  the  first  appearance  of  the  mis- 
sionaries in  Damara-land,  the  natives  were  very 
reserved,  and  retired  with  their  cattle  into  the  in- 
terior. Being  wholly  dependent  on  them  for  sup- 
plies of  live  stock,  the  settlers  suffered  great  hard- 
ships and  privations.  On  more  than  one  occasion 
starvation  stared  them  in  the  face ;  and  they  lived 
for  a  long  time  on  such  wild  animals  as  their  Hot- 
tentot servants  managed  to  kill.  The  Damaras, 
moreover,  judging  of  others  by  themselves,  con- 
ceived the  idea  that  the  missionaries  had  come  into 
the  country  with  some  sinister  object,  and  resolved 
to  frustrate  it.  Accordingly  they  assembled  in 
great  numbers  within  a  few  miles  of  Barmen,  for 
the  purpose  of  exterminating  the  new  settlers. 
Their  murderous  intentions  were  defeated  by  the 
counsel  of  one  of  their  own  tribe.  And  gradually 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  371 

Mr.  Hahn  and  his  coadjutors,  Messrs.  Rath  and 
Kolbe,  had  completely  succeeded  in  pacifying  and 
conciliating  the  Damaras,  and  a  great  number  of 
the  poorer  class  were  now  living  at  the  station, 
where,  by  a  little  industry  and  perseverance,  they 
managed  to  live  in  tolerable  comfort."  A  chief 
named  Kahichene,  with  part  of  his  tribe,  had  set- 
tled also  at  Schmelen's  Hope,  and  was  an  exception 
to  the  general  indifference  of  his  nation  about 
spiritual  and  eternal  things. 

This  was  in  the  year  1852 ;  but  our  story  refers 
to  a  previous  period,  when  the  German  missionary 
Scheppman  was  one  of  the  sole  pioneers  raising  his 
voice  in  the  wilderness,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
blessings  of  the  gospel. 

Rest  and  Christian  fellowship  were  most  sweet 
to  Mr.  Owen's  soul  at  Scheppmansdorf.  The 
country  around  was  dreary  enough.  That  gigantic 
acacia  called  "  kameel-doorn,"  or  giraffe's  thorn,  by 
the  Dutch,  was  the  chief  vegetation,  standing  in 
great  umbrella-shaped  masses  of  foliage  dispersed 
over  the  arid  flats.  Little  gardens  dug  in  the  bed 
of  the  Knisip  promised  well,  but  heavy  rains  in 
the  interior  might  any  day  wash  their  incipient 
produce  away.  The  missionary,  as  usual,  had  to 
be  everything  in  the  infant  settlement.  Gardener, 


372  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

physician,  builder,  smith — he  had  need  of  a  versa- 
tile genius. 

Here  our  travellers  were  but  twenty  miles  from 
the  sea,  and  its  refreshing  breeze  blew  from  the 
west  daily,  not  very  much  to  the  diminishing  of 
the  dryness  or  the  heat ;  for  the  thermometer  often 
ranged  110°  in  the  shade,  and  everything  that 
could  contract  was  shrinking  almost  visibly. 

Mr.  Owen  longed  to  look  at  the  sea.  The  sight 
of  its  boundless  waters  after  the  boundless  wastes 
he  had  been  traversing  would  give  him  quite  a 
feeling  of  home.  Leaving  his  wagon  at  the  sta- 
tion, he  and  Gilbert  set  out  upon  pack-oxen  for 
Walfisch  Bay. 

Land  and  ocean  in  their  tamest  and  least  in- 
viting aspect  meet  there.  The  desert  comes  down 
to  the  water's  edge ;  sand  in  great  levels,  sand  in 
huge  rounded  hillocks,  sand  everywhere.  But  be- 
cause the  harbour  is  safe  and  commodious,  exposed 
only  to  the  rare  northern  winds,  and  quite  shel- 
tered from  the  common  south  winds,  it  has  at- 
tracted the  use  of  Europeans.  It  is  valuable  as 
a  point  of  contact  with  a  vast  cattle-producing 
country.  Some  traders,  recognizing  this,  took  up 
their  abode  in  factories  for  the  purpose  of  export- 
ing cattle;  others  in  order  to  furnish  ships  with 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  373 

provisions.  The  eyes  of  our  travellers  were  greeted 
with  the  gladdening  sight  of  some  half  dozen  craft, 
large  and  small,  riding  at  anchor  below  Pelican 
Point.  A  boat  was  pulling  ashore  from  one  of 
them — the  latest  arrival,  as  it  proved ;  and  there 
were  lettei  3  from  the  Cape. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

TO    CAPE-TOWN. 

S  cold  water  to  the  thirsty  soul,  so  is  good 
news  from  a  far  country."  So  wrote  the 
wise  man,  and  the  truth  of  his  saying  is 
in  the  experience  of  us  all. 
The  sandy  scenery  was  gone ;  the  tumbling  surf 
had  no  sound  for  his  ears.  An  unloading  of  goods 
went  on  within  a  few  yards'  distance,  accompanied 
by  much  jabber  in  many  tongues ;  he  might  have 
sat  in  the  silence  of  a  Sahara,  for  aught  he  knew. 
Mrhen  that  letter  was  ended,  the  eyes  were  moist 
that  gazed  forth  on  the  blue  sea.  Grateful  tears 
distilled  into  them — tears  of  his  heart's  joy. 

One  small  paragraph  in  Mr.  Enfield's  latest  letter 
from  England  had  caused  it  all.  Thus  the  words 
ran: 

"Old  friend,  will  you  be  glad  to  hear  that  I 
have  been  reading  my  Bible  lately  ?  It  is  the  fact. 
Seeing  you  in  South  Africa  relinquishing  all  the 
delights  of  home  and  the  gladness  of  friendship 

374 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  375 

for  what  seemed  to  me  a  chimera,  set  me  a  think- 
ing more  than  I  would  have  liked  to  own  to  you 
at  the  time.  You  had  good  prospects  in  England, 
and  were  not  driven  to  the  colonies  merely  for  an 
opening  in  life.  You  were  under  the  influence  of 
a  zeal  which  I  could  not,  with  my  foregoing  know- 
ledge of  you,  call  an  ignorant  fanaticism.  What 
was  the  power  impelling  you  to  devote  your  life  to 
a  repellent  work  ?  for  so  I  deem  preaching  to  the 
heathen  must  be  to  a  refined  and  educated  nature 
like  yours.  You  had  sent  me  to  the  Bible  to  look 
for  it;  and  after  some  hesitation  at  the  idea  of 
reading  a  book  which  I  imagined  T  knew  perfectly 
well,  and  which  had  quite  palled  on  my  taste,  I 
did  look  into  it  during  the  voyage.  Another  start- 
ling fact  met  me  on  my  arrival  at  home.  I  found 
my  brilliant  sister  Margaret  totally  changed.  No 
longer  the  cynosure  of  all  eyes  in  the  ball-room, 
she  informed  me  that  she  never  entered  one  now ; 
and  when  I  asked  the  reason,  she  had  your  reason 
ready :  that  she  had  found  something  better  than 
the  gayeties  of  fashionable  life — that  her  heart  was 
given  to  God,  and  therefore  her  life  should  be  his 
also.  Perhaps  I  was  inclined  to  be  angry  at  first, 
for  there  is  some  stir  of  natural  enmity  against 
such  declarations ;  I  have  felt  it  both  with  you 


376  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

and  with  her.  But  ray  vexation  did  not  last.  If 
she  was  brilliant  before,  she  is  now  the  most  lov- 
able of  beings ;  her  vivacity  makes  home  bright, 
instead  of  being  reserved  for  strangers ;  and  she  is 
manifestly  tenfold  happier  than  when  her  life  was 
full  of  stir  and  admiration.  And  it  is  with  Mar- 
garet that  I  am  now  every  day  reading  my  Bible ; 
if  ever  I  am  what  you  religionists  style  a  converted 
man,  it  will  be  owing,  under  God,  to  her  conver- 
sations and  her  prayers." 

A  hundred  times  was  that  precious  passage  read 
by  the  raptured  eyes  of  its  recipient.  Miss  En- 
field  a  Christian !  Though  he  had  prayed  for  it 
morning  and  night  for  years,  the  fulfilment  of  his 
heart's  desire  came  upon  him  like  a  thing  utterly 
unexpected.  Ah!  here  is  our  unbelief.  We  ask 
God,  as  though  he,  the  Living  One,  were  a  stone 
idol,  which  neither  can  hear,  nor  see,  nor  act.  We 
never  believe,  or  scarce  ever,  in  the  fulness  with 
which  we  are  entitled  to  believe,  that  "  we  have 
the  petitions  which  we  desired  of  him."  And  thus 
we  remain  mourning  when  we  ought  to  rise  re- 
joicing; we  lose  one  half  the  comfort  we  might 
have  in  Christ  our  Lord. 

Mr.  Owen  walked  away  among  the  sand-hills  to 
the  shelter  of  some  tall  reeds  near  a  flamingo 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  377 

swamp,  and  there  lie  kneeled  to  return  thanks  to 
his  God — thanks  for  that  boon  of  which  eternity 
alone  can  measure  the  value, — the  conversion  of  an 
immortal  soul;  of  which,  likewise,  no  human 
arithmetic  can  compute  the  gain  or  the  loss,  for 
who  can  estimate  the  element  of  never-ending 
duration  ? 

And  his  own  unbelief — how  did  he  ask  pardon 
for  the  skepticism  of  his  prayers !  Surely,  "  the 
sin  which  most  easily  besetteth  us"  is  that  want  of 
faith.  Who  shall  tell  the  blessing  from  which  it 
debars  the  doubting  Christian? 

Margaret  Enfield  had  been  most  dear  of  all 
earthly  beings  to  Mr.  Owen.  Imperceptibly  the 
affection  grew  up,  and  the  intimacy  between  the 
families  permitted  its  growth  unsuspected,  for  they 
had  been  friends  from  childhood.  He  hardly  knew 
his  own  feelings  until  after  he  had  become  a  Chris- 
tian. Then,  simultaneously  with  the  opening  of  a 
great  gulf  of  utter  unsympathy  between  them,  he 
found  that  it  was  like  rending  his  own  heart  to 
behold  her  apart,  as  yet  unsaved.  He  spoke  to 
her;  she  deemed  him  enthusiastic,  and  asserted 
that  he  was  strait-laced  and  righteous  over  much. 
His  own  soul  yearning  over  her,  he  could  do  noth- 
ing but  pray. 


378  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

She  was  one  of  his  great  agonies  in  coming  to 
Africa.  But  he  dare  not  stay  in  companionship  so 
perilous ;  had  he  not  read  in  the  Word  which  was 
his  law,  "  Be  ye  not  unequally  yoked  together  with 
unbelievers;  for  what  fellowship  hath  light  with 
darkness  ?  Or  what  part  hath  he  that  believeth 
with  an  infidel  ?"  And  an  infidel,  in  all  that  con- 
stitutes living  and  saving  faith,  was  she  whom  he 
felt  so  inexpressibly  dear.  He  knew  not  but  she 
might  at  once  have  refused  him  had  he  offered, 
but  he  durst  not  make  the  attempt.  Unless  with 
a  woman's  apt  divination  she  had  read  his  heart, 
she  knew  nothing  of  his  feelings ;  he  had  covered 
them,  as  he  thought,  impenetrably  when  bidding 
her  farewell  for  ever. 

And  now  it  need  not  be  for  ever !  "  If  not  on 
earth,  in  heaven  they  should  meet  again." 

He  acquiesced  now  in  Gilbert's  often-suggested 
plan  that  he  should  take  passage  in  a  vessel  for 
the  Cape,  and  condense  a  weary  journey  of  several 
months  (seven  hundred  geographical  miles,  as  the 
crow  flies)  into  a  healthful  voyage  of  a  few  weeks. 
Indeed,  the  necessity  for  doing  so  became  urgent. 
His  wagon  was  almost  falling  to  pieces ;  his  oxen 
had  sadly  diminished  under  the  long  sickness  in 
Namaqua-land ;  no  stores  but  salt  beef  and  biscuit 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  379 

were  attainable  at  Walfisch  Bay,  where  he  had 
reckoned  on  a  complete  refit. 

He  stayed  a  little  longer  with  the  kind  mission- 
aries at  Scheppruansdorf,  during  which  he  learned 
something  about  the  tribes  of  the  Damaras,  on 
whose  verge  they  laboured.  Physically,  these 
Damaras  are  some  of  the  finest  savages  in  Africa, 
the  average  height  about  six  feet  for  the  men. 
They  are  exclusively  a  pastoral  people,  possessing 
almost  incalculable  herds  of  cattle,  and  their  whole 
country  is  public  property,  ranged  by  these  nomad 
flocks.  How  would  the  histories  of  the  patriarchs 
come  home  to  their  daily  experiences  ?  Morally, 
they  are  as  depraved  as  all  savage  tribes,  have 
scarce  any  sense  of  truth,  and  just  as  much  honesty 
as  the  interests  of  society  require.  One  hint  of 
the  future  life  is  found  among  their  tangled  super- 
stitions :  they  bring  provisions  to  the  grave  of  a 
dead  friend,  that  the  spirit  may  eat  and  make 
merry,  while  they  pray  to  him  to  help  them  in 
acquiring  much  cattle. 

Even  this  was  some  ground  to  go  upon  in  be- 
ginning to  teach  them  the  rudiments  of  truth. 
They  have  also  an  institution  resembling  the  sacred 
fire  of  the  Hebrews  and  of  the  Romans;  which  fire, 
should  it  be  extinguished  by  any  accident,  is  re- 


380  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

newed,  in  presence  of  the  whole  tribe,  by  friction, 
alter  sacrifices  of  cattle  have  been  made.  AYlu'ii 
the  site  of  a  kraal  is  changed,  which  frequently 
happens,  the  priestess,  daughter  of  the  chief,  walks 
in  front  of  the  people  with  a  portion  of  this  sacred 
fire  to  the  place  where  the  huts  are  to  be  again 
set  up. 

The  missionaries  find  this  people  and  their 
neighbours,  the  Namaquas,  the  stoniest  of  all 
spiritual  soils,  but  Christian  Africaner  must  ever 
remain  an  encouraging  example  that  "  the  grace  of 
God  is  infinite." 

Mr.  Owen  and  most  of  his  followers  set  sail  in 
a  schooner  for  the  Cape.  To  some  of  these  black 
fellows  he  had  become  really  attached,  particu- 
larly to  the  Caffre  lad  Sackaboni,  and  even  to  poor 
stolid  yellow  Jan,  the  Hottentot  driver.  Direful ly 
alarmed  were  they  to  find  themselves  in  a  small 
boat  on  the  heaving  surges  of  the  bay,  and  the 
alarm  was  intensified  to  consternation  by  and  by, 
when,  with  slowly  creaking  yards  and  straining 
canvas,  the  vessel  began  to  work  round  toward  the 
entrance  and  face  the  open  sea.  "  The  blue  water 
that  ends  in  blue  air" — they  had  heard  of  it,  but 
committing  themselves  to  its  mercy  was  another 
thing.  The  low,  inhospitable  shore  gradually 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  381 

receded  from  their  sight,  and  was  almost  clean 
vanished  when  the  swift  twilight  gave  place  to 
darkness. 

The  Balala  child  became  quite  a  pet  with  the 
sailors,  and  would  ere  long  run  up  the  rigging  like 
a  monkey ;  but  his  first  love  was  for  James  Gilbert, 
and  he  would  leave  any  play  at  sight  of  his  friend. 
The  physical  aspect  of  the  little  creature  had  im- 
proved much  since  he  was  adopted  by  the  white 
men.  His  head  did  not  seem  so  disproportionately 
large,  nor  were  his  limbs  shrunken,  as  is  generally 
the  case  with  the  poorest  native  children,  from  the 
miserable  food  of  roots  and  reptiles  on  which  they 
live.  But  his  eyes  had  grown  diamond-bright,  and 
their  expression  of  intelligence  was  widely  different 
from  the  look  of  dull  cunning  he  would  have  nat- 
urally worn. 

Three  weeks  was  the  time  spent  in  the  voyage, 
though  one  week  might  suffice  for  going  from  the 
Cape  to  Walfisch  Bay,  because  the  prevailing 
winds  of  the  region  are  from  the  south.  Mr. 
Owen  lost  not  all  this  time.  His  missionary  cha- 
racter adhered  to  him  everywhere,  aboard  as  well 
as  ashore.  Daily  he  had  worship  for  his  servants, 
at  which  he  invited  the  crew's  attendance.  It  was 
easy  to  see  that  a  component  part  of  the  man  was 


382  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

his  religion ;  that  it  was  nothing  outside  himself, 
but  a  portion  of  his  own  nature.  The  most  god- 
less sailor  respected  this. 

At  last  the  huge  Table  Mountain  was  seen  rais- 
ing itself  above  the  horizon,  and  ere  next  evening 
they  had  cast  anchor  before  the  low- terraced  town 
named  from  the  Cape. 


CHA'PTER    XXXV. 

IN     THE    SHADOW    OT    TABLE    MOUNTAIN. 

]  HAT  a  strange  new  world  was  the  busy  and 
crowded  Cape  town  to  Mr.  Owen's  wilder- 
ness followers !  Even  to  himself,  though 
he  had  been  in  the  capital  on  his  way  to 
the  interior,  the  scenes  of  the  streets  presented  all 
the  elements  of  novelty,  after  the  desert  stillness. 

Perhaps  no  other  city  on  the  globe  contains  a 
population  of  such  varied  races  as  Cape-Town. 
"Indians,  Chinese,  Malays,  Caffres,  Bechuanas, 
Hottentots,  Creoles,  Afrikanders,  half-castes  of 
many  kinds,  negroes  of  every  kind  from  the  east 
and  west  coasts,  and  Europeans  of  all  countries :" 
such  is  a  specified  list.  Well  may  another  writer 
say  that  its  inhabitants  are  "  composed  of  persons 
from  every  nation  under  the  sun,  with  a  goodly 
proportion  of  Jews,  Mohammedans  and  heathen,  or 
nondescripts.  Their  circumstances  are  as  varied 
as  wealth,  prosperity,  high  wages,  vice,  poverty 

and  drunkenness  can  make  them." 

383 


384  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

It  may  be  imagined  what  a  field  for  missionary 
labour  is  here.  Alas  that  the  vices  of  a  partial 
and  corrupt  civilization  should  make  these  immor- 
tal souls,  grouped  thus  within  "sound  of  the 
church-going  bell,"  rather  more  inaccessible  to 
divine  truth  than  the  veriest  savage  of  the  veldt ! 
But  so  it  is.  The  sins  of  the  great  mass  of  white 
men  commonly  calling  themselves  Christians  have 
stigmatized  the  religion  which  they  profess  to  hold. 
Who  has  taught  the  black  man  to  drink  himself 
drunk,  and  led  him  thus  to  the  long  train  of  con- 
sequent harm  and  crime  ?  The  "  fire-water"  has 
done  a  foul  work  here,  as  among  the  red  tribes  of 
America ;  and  the  sense  of  the  damage  thus  occa- 
sioned in  the  estimation  of  thoughtful  natives  is 
shown  by  the  enactments  of  some  of  the  chiefs  on 
the  subject.  A  brave  Christian  Griqua,  named 
Waterboor,  who  reigned  thirty  years  in  righteous- 
ness and  prosperity  over  his  tribe,  found  it  neces- 
sary to  decree  that  no  spirituous  liquor  whatever 
should  enter  his  villages,  to  which  end  any  person 
bringing  brandy  or  gin  into  the  country  was,  be- 
sides due  punishment,  to  have  the  ardent  spirits 
confiscated  and  poured  forth  upon  the  ground, 
where  it  could  do  no  harm. 

Concerning  a  parallel  civilization  to  that  among 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF,  385 

the  aborigines  in  Cape  Colony  an  experienced  min- 
ister writes : 

"  Let  me  say  a  word  on  the  asserted  civilization 
going  on  among  the  natives  of  Natal.  No  doubt 
the  Caffres  are  better  fed  and  paid  than  formerly ; 
many  are  engaged  in  different  handicrafts;  but  we 
found  the  prison  full  of  black  convicts.  Drunken 
natives  were  no  longer  rarities.  Insolence  and  ex- 
tortion were  the  universal  complaints  of  the  towns- 
people. In  fact,  so  far  as  the  town  Caffres  are 
concerned,  it  was  evident  that  the  change  during 
the  last  ten  years  was  decidedly  for  the  worse. 
So  much  for  the  vaunted  cry  of  civilization — un- 
less indeed  it  is  the  result  of  new  habits  springing 
from  the  cravings  of  enlightened  and  renewed 
hearts For  my  own  part,  I  seem  to  be- 
hold a  chaos  of  confusion  in  the  present  condition 
of  South  Africa,  which  nothing  but  Christianity 
can  correct.  Religion  and  the  Bible  will  alone  in- 
troduce the  subject  of  responsibility  in  the  sight 
of  God,  and  the  tidings  of  a  Saviour's  love  and  of 
a  future  life  will  be  the  surest  barrier  against  those 
vices  that  will  always  follow  close  upon  the  foot- 
prints of  civilization.  If,  however,  religion  can  be 
judiciously  coupled  with  the  breaking  down  of 
some  of  their  present  barbarous  usages,  then  the 

25 


386  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

introduction  of  universal  industry  will  follow  as  a 
matter  of  course,  and  will  at  length  bring  forth  a 
genuine  civilization.  The  branch  must  bear  the 
fruit,  not  the  fruit  the  branch.  And  further,  we 
know  that  the  branch  can  only  bear  fruit  by  abid- 
ing in  the  vine,  the  true  vine,  which  is  Christ."* 

Many  sucli  thoughts  as  these  passed  through 
Mr.  Owen's  mind  as  he  stayed  for  a  short  space 
among  the  motley  population  of  Cape-Town.  He 
found  that  there  were  various  places  of  worship  for 
the  European  colonists,  for  English  Episcopalians 
and  for  Dutch  and  Scotch  Presbyterians.  But  few 
agencies  were  striving  to  penetrate  the  dense  hea- 
then darkness  of  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants.  Per- 
haps the  most  numerous  nationality,  after  British 
and  Dutch,  were  the  Malays — industrious  and 
sober  men  for  the  most  part,  and  zealous  traders, 
consequently  prosperous ;  addicted  to  rich  dress 
and  display,  owning  even  handsome  equipages  and 
horses  in  some  cases;  maintaining  a  Mohammedan 
ritual  and  mosque  to  meet  the  claims  of  the  other 
world.  Who  was  caring  for  these  souls  ?  Our 
missionary  viewed  everything  in  this  light,  as 
would  his  Master  were  he  walking  the  earth  this  day. 

Since  the  date  of  which  we  write  the  Colonial 
*  Rev.  G.  H.  Moore's  "Zulu-land,"  pp.  8,  12. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  387 

Church  and  School  Society  has  done  some  good 
service  at  and  about  Cape-Town.  The  minister 
supported  by  that  society  was  able  to  write,  in 
1862,  that  his  work  was  prospering — "schools, 
church,  teachers,  children  and  congregation."  "  I 
do  not  think  the  attention  givei*  to  the  work  can 
be  exceeded.  I  believe  that  God's  Holy  Spirit  is 
at  work  among  the  congregation,  and  that  many 
of  the  young  are  listening  with  the  hearing  ear. 
We  have  over  two  hundred  children  on  our  books 
(in  the  boys'  school) ;  in  our  Sunday-schools  over 
two  hundred  and  thirty  children,  a  large  propor- 
tion of  whom  do  not  attend  our  daily  schools, 
being  of  a  class  far  above  them ;  so  that  with  the 
church,  the  daily  boys'  and  girls'  schools  and  Sun- 
day-schools, we  must  have  a  very  large  number  of 
immortal  souls  under  the  influence  of  scriptural 
teaching  and  truth.  And  I  feel  sure  that  God, 
'  even  our  own  God,  will  bless  us.' " 

Yes,  that  is  the  spirit  in  which  to  work — doing 
all  that  man  can  possibly  effect  and  leaving  the 
result  to  the  God  of  means — that  God  who  has  not 
promised  that  the  gospel  shall  convert  all  nations, 
but  that  it  is  to  be  preached  as  a  witness  to  all  na- 
tions before  the  end  come,  the  glorious  end  which 
is  the  believer's  most  beloved  hope. 


388  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

For  the  rest,  Mr.  Owen  cared  and  investigated 
little.  The  bare,  flat-roofed  town  had  its  interest 
in  his  eyes  because  of  all  the  immortal  souls 
therein — not  from  its  history  or  topography.  He 
preached  wherever  he  could,  as  returning  strength 
allowed  him.  The  desert  fever  had  prostrated 
him  much,  but  its  effects  were  wearing  away 
under  the  comforts  of  civilized  life.  He  hastened 
to  amend  that  he  might  return  to  his  work  again. 

And  ever  before  his  eyes  floated  the  sketch  of 
an  ideal  missionary  colony — perhaps  in  that  very 
"  Fountain  Kloof"  whereof  Gilbert  had  told  him — 
a  colony  of  which  he  should  be  spiritual  patriarch, 
and  wherein  good  work  might  be  done  for  the  fur- 
therance of  the  truth  of  Christ  and  the  saving  of 
souls. 

He  and  his  humble  friend  were  speaking  of  the 
cherished  scheme  one  evening,  as  they  sat  out  on 
the  "  stoep"  or  brick  terrace  in  front  of  the  house 
•where  they  lodged.  The  great  bare  mass  of 
Table  Mountain — devoid  of  its  cloudy  table-cloth 
this  afternoon — loomed  grandly  beside  and  above 
the  unpretending  town;  the  wide  streets,  shaded 
with  fine  oak  trees,  were  gradually  quieting  from 
the  day's  traffic ;  slowly  the  broad  disk  of  the  sun 
dropped  down  to  the  edge  of  the  curved  sea  afar. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  389 

"  I  am  loth  to  have  those  Caffres  here,  growing 
corrupt  in  the  city  sins  of  their  brethren,"  said  the 
missionary.  "  I  fear  for  them.  Something  could 
be  made  of  them  if  they  were  apart  and  subject  to 
Christian  influences  without  alloy,  as  I  purpose  in 
this  settlement." 

"Sir,"  returned  James  Gilbert,  thoughtfully, 
"it  seems  to  me  as  if  we  oftener  trusted  to  the 
means  and  the  things  we  do  ourselves  a  deal  more 
than  to  the  Lord.  You  can't  get  away  from  the 
Cape  just  now  or  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  and  don't 
fret  yourself  about  them  fellows." 

"  I  feel  as  if  I  were  in  pastoral  charge  of  them," 
said  his  master. 

"You'd  keep  them  out  of  temptation  if  you  could, 
sir.  As  for  Klein  veld's  drinking  the  other  night, 
the  wonder  would  be  to  me  if  he  did  not.  It  was 
an  old  liking  of  his,  and  of  all  the  hard  things  to 
root  out  of  a  man  is  the  love  of  liquor;  in  my  be- 
lief, only  the  grace  of  God  does  it;  and  there's 
something  in  savages  that  takes  to  drink  at  once. 
They  say  that  Makomo  himself,  the  chief  that  has 
helped  to  make  all  this  war  in  Caffraria,  is  a  regu- 
lar drunkard." 

"  More  shame  for  the  white  men  that  taught  ic 
to  him  !"  was  the  rejoinder. 


390  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  I've  heard,  sir,  that  when  the  missionary  near 
his  place  reasoned  with  him  about  all  the  brandy 
he  drank,  and  told  him  'twould  kill  his  soul,  and 
that  'it  took  away  the  chief,'  and  made  him  as 
mean  as  any  wretched  Hottentot  at  the  canteen,  he 
defended  himself  by  saying  that  the  officers  at  the 
station  at  Fort  Beaufort  drank  brandy  privately, 
and  why  should  not  he?  '  You  don't  drink,'  says 
he,  cunningly;  'but  other  white  chiefs  do.  They 
have  a  canteen  in  their  own  houses — and  Makomo 
has  not.'*  How  ready  he  was  to  pick  up  the  bad 
example,  sir !" 

"  James,  no  wonder  for  St.  Paul  to  tell  the  early 
Christians,  set  in  the  midst  of  the  Pagans,  as  the 
whites  are  here,  '  Ye  are  manifestly  declared  to  be 
the  epistle  of  Christ  ministered  by  us — our  epistle, 
known  and  read  of  all  men.'  As  if  those  who 
bore  the  name  of  Christ  were  to  be  his  letters  of 
recommendation  to  the  heathen,  showing  forth  the 
beauty  and  the  glory  of  his  religion.  Ah,  what 
^Multitudes  of  soul-murders  have  professing  Chris- 
tians to  answer  for!" 

Just  opposite  to  where  they  lodged  was  one  of 
those  shops  peculiar  to  Cape-Town,  and  such  cities 
on  the  verge  of  wild  countries;  with  windows  full 
*  Calderwood's  "  Caffres,"  p.  74. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  391 

of  skins  of  beasts,  tusks  of  elephants  and  hippo- 
potami, skulls  of  wild  boars  and  other  forest  crea- 
tures, horns  of  deer  of  every  variety  and  every 
curve,  ostrich  feathers  and  eggs,  stuffed  birds,  etc. 
The  proprietor  was  sitting  at  his  door,  smoking  a 
long  pipe  at  present;  and  before  him  stood  a  knot 
of  natives,  talking  and  gesticulating,  evidently  with 
some  business  on  hand. 

"  It's  our  Sackaboni  and  Jan,  sir,"  said  Gilbert, 
after  some  watching  to  discover  the  principal  actors, 
"  trying  to  drive  a  bargain  about  the  skins  and 
things  they  brought  down  country.  I  doubt  but 
they'll  have  a  tough  battle  to  get  anything  like  the 
value  out  of  him,  for  that's  the  way  those  traders 
make  their  fortunes."  Let  us  watch  them  silently, 
and  see  how  they  succeed." 

A  dusk,  black-chinned  Malay,  sailing  up  the 
street  under  his  old  umbrella-shaped  straw  hat 
(whose  office  was  over,  now  that  shadows  were  fall- 
ing across  the  thoroughfares),  drew  near  to  listen 
to  the  bargain-making,  and  was  manifestly  much 
amused  by  it.  The  trader,  of  course,  pretended  to 
be  perfectly  indifferent  to  the  wares  offered — would 
rather  not  have  them,  in  fact ;  and  made  use  of  all 
other  deprecatory  artifices  as  he  puffed  his  pipe  on 
his  threshold.  At  last,  on  a  price  being  named, 


392  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

about  one-fifth  of  their  value,  Sackaboni  stopped 
short  and  said  very  gravely: 

"  You  don't  love  God.  You  don't  believe  in 
God." 

"  I  don't  believe  in  God,  you  young  heathen  I" 
exclaimed  the  white  man.  "  How  dare  you  say 
that?" 

"  Because  if  you  believed  that  he  saw  you,"  re- 
plied the  Caffre  lad,  "you  would  not  try  to  cheat 
us  now." 

This  charge  broke  up  the  conference.  The 
trader  rushed  at  Sackaboni,  who  escaped  his  hands 
very  nimbly,  taking  his  share  of  the  wares  with 
him.  Jan  received  a  blow,  which  he  retaliated 
only  by  a  whine;  for  he  had  once  been  a  Hot- 
tentot slave,  and  the  servility  of  that  position  had 
full  possession  of  him  even  now  in  his  legal  free- 
dom. The  Malay  in  the  conical  straw  hat  went 
away  chuckling  over  the  discomfiture  of  his  rival 
the  white  merchant,  and  doubtless  thinking  more 
slightingly  than  ever  of  the  faith  whose  possession 
produced  such  fruits. 

"  Bad  man,  bad  man !"  said  Sackaboni  to  his 
master.  "Don't  believe  God  sees  him — no  Chris- 
tian at  all — no  Christian  at  all."  And  Mr.  Owen 
had  to  try  and  explain  to  him  the  mighty  differ- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  393 

ence  that  exists  between  the  mere  profession  of  the 
name  of  Christianity  and  the  reception  of  its  truth 
into  the  heart,  to  be  the  guide  of  the  life,  the  great 
motive-spring  of  the  conduct.  For  the  boy,  hav- 
ing been  many  months  in  the  desert  with  only 
those  two  Christian  men  as  exemplars,  and  hearing 
daily  tutelage  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  had  begun 
to  think  that  the  great  majority  of  whites  must  be 
like  his  master  and  Gilbert;  whereas  in  Cape- 
Town  he  saw  that  they  were  verily  exceptional 
men,  and  the  fact  puzzled  him,  as  it  has  many 
another  heathen  soul. 

A  reason  why  Mr.  Owen  found  it  difficult  to 
make  arrangements  for  proceeding  at  once  to  the 
interior  and  settling  there,  was  the  disturbed  state 
of  Caffraria.  One  of  its  many  harassing  wars  had 
been  raging  since  that  time  when  they  had  been 
obliged  to  abandon  Tabor.  British  troops  and 
their  allies,  the  Fingoes,  had  beaten  Makomo, 
Umhalu,  Pato,  Sandilli,  Sonto  and  other  chiefs, 
again  and  again  ;  but  it  seemed  to  render  peace  no 
nearer.  The  sort  of  guerrilla  warfare  carried  on  by 
the  natives  was  most  difficult  to  be  met  by  civil- 
ized men.  Perpetually  were  settlers'  cattle  stolen, 
even  close  to  the  very  outposts  of  the  army. 
Within  three  miles  of  the  large  garrison  of  Gra- 


394  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

ham's-Town,  the  oows  belonging  to  the  inhabitants 
were  carried  off  without  trace.  At  last  Colonel 
Somerset  devised  a  plan  of  dotting  the  whole 
colony  with  small  detachments  of  troops,  to  pro- 
tect the  farmers  from  such  predatory  incursions, 
which  answered  the  purpose  tolerably  well. 

To  send  stores  by  sea  into  Caffre-land  the  au- 
thorities had  fixed  upon  opening  the  mouth  of  the 
Buffalo  river,  as  the  readiest  means  of  communi- 
cation. King-William's-Town,  an  extensive  mili- 
tary post,  was  some  short  distance  up  the  stream. 
Mr.  Owen  had  thoughts  once  of  returning  thus  to 
Caffraria ;  but  he  soon  gave  up  the  idea ;  he  could 
do  no  good  as  a  missionary  while  the  country  was 
thus  disturbed  and  the  very  name  of  a  white  man 
detested. 

Finally,  he  concluded  to  travel  away  to  the 
north-east,  preaching  as  he  went,  and  be  thereafter 
guided  as  the  course  of  events  should  show  the 
will  of  Divine  Providence.  He  had  heard  of  the 
nation  of  the  Basutos,  and  the  promising  mission- 
ary work  going  on  among  them  under  French  Pro- 
testant ministers ;  perhaps  there  could  be  a  settle- 
ment and  a  flock  found  for  him  among  their  ma- 
jestic mountain  chains  and  secluded  valleys. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

AGAIN     "ON    THE    TREK." 

O  they  left  behind  them  the  capital  cf  the 
south,  and  plodded  away  with  the  usual 
wagon  and  oxen  into  the  open  country  of 
the  colony.  What  gardens — what  smiling 
fields  !  Cattle  treading  under  foot  in  the  pastures 
flowers  which  would  be  treasured  in  English  green- 
houses. The  sweet  scent  of  jasmines,  geraniums, 
lilies,  hung  in  the  warm  air.  There  were  hedges 
of  fuchsia,  cushions  of  lovely  wax-belled  heaths  in 
abundance;  a  peaceful  and  flourishing  land,  with 
many  attributes  of  beauty. 

The  inhabitants  are  chiefly  descendants  of  Dutch 
and  French  refugees — an  intelligent,  frugal,  hos- 
pitable, prosperous  people;  perhaps  a  shade  darker 
than  Europeans  in  their  complexion,  as  befitted 
their  degree  of  cloudless  sunshine.  For  here  it 
may  be  only  on  fifteen  or  twenty  days  of  the  whole 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  that  the  heavens  are 
overcast.  The  Dutch  Reformed  Church  has  pro- 

395 


396  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

vided  well  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  these  near 
districts ;  and  Sir  John  Herschel,  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  Sir  George  Napier,  established  an 
admirable  system  of  public  instruction  for  their 
children. 

But  the  farther  our  party  travelled,  as  was  nat- 
urally to  be  expected,  the  more  uncultured  became 
both  the  soil  and  the  people.  At  some  weeks' 
journey  from  the  Cape  (oxen-travelling,  be  it  re- 
membered) they  were  among  the  wide  pastures  of 
the  primitive  Boers,  whose  farms  reached  for  miles 
in  every  direction — farms  measured  by  the  number 
of  steps  in  their  boundaries,  with  a  view  to  which 
measurement  there  was  kept  in  some  localities  an 
official  pacer — the  felt-wagtmeester.  Surveying 
and  mapping  had  scarce  penetrated  to  those  remote 
regions;  and  the  official  pacer  aforesaid  was  fre- 
quently not  incorruptible,  but  accessible  to  persua- 
sive reasons  why  he  should  take  longer  or  shorter 
steps  in  any  particular  case.  Hence,  frequent  feuds 
among  the  neighbours  whose  boundaries  were  thus 
determined. 

Now  upon  the  skirts  of  these  lazy,  lumbering 
Boers  pressed  closely  the  enterprise  of  English  and 
Scotch  settlers,  and  the  name  of  Briton  was  in  no 
good  odour  with  many  of  them.  Mr.  Owen  re- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  397 

ceived  a  rude  repulse  at  times,  but  more  often  the 
traditional  hospitality  of  the  race  asserted  itself. 
When  he  became  accustomed  to  their  coarse  and 
abrupt  language,  and  their  endless  questionings  as 
to  his  possessions,  object,  personal  situation,  rela- 
tives, he  found  that  he  was  frequently  able  to  lead 
the  conversation  in  the  channel  he  desired. 

A  word  here  concerning  the  Boer  republics — the 
Trans-Vaal  and  the  Orange  River  Free  State, 
which  puzzle  persons  unacquainted  with  the  politi- 
cal state  of  South  Africa.  After  the  emancipation 
of  the  Hottentots  by  law,  in  the  year  1829,  the 
Dutch  farmers,  who  had  opposed  that  measure  with 
all  their  power,  found  themselves  considerable 
losers.  Their  "  black  property"  had  made  all  the 
rest  valuable — had  worked  up  their  farms,  herded 
their  cattle,  been  the  main  means  of  their  rude 
wealth.  They  were  thoroughly  provoked,  and  re- 
solved to  leave  the  colony  where  slavery  was  now 
illegal,  and  to  found  a  republic  in  the  wild  lands 
beyond,  where  every  Dutchman  might  do  what  was 
good  in  his  own  eyes.  And  this  was  oftentimes  all 
sorts  of  enormity  with  reference  to  the  natives — 
shooting  down  the  men  and  women  on  the  slightest 
opposition,  and  seizing  the  children  to  train  up  as 
live  chattels  when  so  young  that  they  speedily 


398  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

forgot  their  own  tongue  and  their  parents.  The 
exodus  of  these  Dutch  emigrants  was  headed  by 
Mr.  Hendrik  Potgeiter;  he  led  them  across  the 
Vaal  river,  into  the  Magaliesberg  country,  among 
the  Cashan  mountains.  Hence  the  redoubtable 
Moselekatse  had  been  expelled  by  Dingaan,  and 
the  deluded  tribes  that  remained  gladly  received 
these  worse  conquerors,  who  came  in  the  name  of 
peace.  And  ere  long  the  rule  for  the  natives  be- 
came enforced  labour.  "We  make  these  people 
work,"  says  Mr.  Gert  Krieger,  commandant  of  the 
Boers,  "  in  consideration  of  allowing  them  to  live 
in  our  country" — a  country  indisputably  belonging 
to  its  native  tribes.  All  the  train  of  "  unutterable 
meannesses"  and  iniquities  properly  belonging  to 
slavery  are  embodied  and  perpetuated  in  these 
republics. 

They  are  a  sad  impediment  to  missionary  labour, 
both  in  the  territories  over  which  they  professedly 
rule  and  in  neighbouring  districts.  Livingstone 
was  settled  once  among  the  Bakwains,  and  his 
labour  seemed  prospering;  but  four  hundred  Boers 
were  sent  by  Mr.  Pretorius,  of  the  Free  State,  to 
attack  the  settlement,  who  carried  off  two  hundred 
school-children  into  slavery,  having  slain  many  of 
their  defenders.  The  missionary's  house  was  plun- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  399 

dered,  his  library  torn  to  shreds,  his  medicines 
broken  and  spilt ;  all  the  wreck  that  could  be  done 
was  done  to  the  good  work.  And  when  Living- 
stone was  fearless  enough  to  speak  to  Hendrik  Pot- 
geiter  himself  as  to  the  evil  and  danger  of  hinder- 
ing the  gospel  of  Christ — for  mark,  these  lawless 
men  call  themselves  Christians  ! — he  became  greatly- 
excited,  and  threatened  to  attack  any  native  tribe 
within  his  reach  which  should  dare  to  have  even  a 
native  teacher.  For  he  knows,  and  so  do  op- 
pressors generally,  that  of  all  the  agencies  for 
making  men  free  and  brave,  there  is  none  in  the 
wide  world  comparable  to  the  gospel  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

Thus  Mr.  Owen's  design  of  going  to  the  tribes 
beyond  with  his  message  of  truth  was  viewed  with 
an  unfriendly  eye  by  the  frontier  Boers.  He  cared 
little  for  this,  as  he  knew  they  dared  not  stop  his 
march ;  he  was  only  sorry  in  so  far  as  it  restrained 
him  in  his  ministrations  to  themselves.  Yet  at 
times  he  would  have  true  pastoral  work  even  in 
Boers'  houses;  children  were  brought  him  to  be 
baptized,  when  the  parents  listened  to  instruction ; 
or  there  were  sick  persons  who  received  his  visits 
gladly,  or  over  the  closing  grave  he  could  speak 
earnestly  to  the  living. 


400  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

More  and  more  among  the  native  tribes  he  was 
coming,  and  white  faces  became  rarer,  as  the  wagon 
treked  farther  north-east  over  the  vast  undulating 
plains  of  the  central  division  of  South  Africa. 
Here  our  party  once  encountered  a  mighty  migra- 
tion of  springboks,  travelling  south.  There  might 
have  been  forty  thousand  of  these  most  graceful 
creatures  moving  over  the  country  as  they  browsed, 
obedient  to  some  mysterious  impulse  in  common. 
All  the  plain  seemed  in  motion  with  their  horns 
and  tossing  heads ;  the  green  expanse  was  quite 
obliterated  with  the  speckled  backs  and  limbs  of 
the  animals.  A  wonderful  sight !  With  what 
affluence  of  life  has  the  Most  High  dowered  the 
desert  places  of  the  earth  ! 

"  They  say  it  is  as  the  grass  in  the  Kalahari  gets 
tall  it  frightens  them,"  observed  Gilbert,  "  and  they 
move  off  south,  where  the  grass  is  thinner.  It 
frightens  them,  because  they  know  any  number  of 
lions  or  leopards  might  be  hid  in  it  quite  close ; 
that's  the  reason  the  blacks  give,  anyhow." 

"  I  wonder  can  the  story  be  true  that  lions  some- 
times walk  in  the  midst  of  those  herds,  killing 
from  night  to  night  as  they  go  along  ?" 

"  I  don't  see  any  reason  to  doubt  it,  myself. 
Certain  it  is  that  plenty  of  hungry  beasts  will  hang 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  401 

on  the  rear  of  such  an  army  of  living  things  as 
that ;"  which  was  verily  the  case.  Hearing  some 
commotion  at  the  outspan  next  evening,  Mr.  Owen 
found  that  one  of  his  natives  had  just  bagged  a 
leopard  from  among  these  camp-followers,  and  all 
the  rest  were  exulting  over  the  dead  brute.  They 
danced  and  sang,  and  abused  the  animal  in  round 
terms,  while  proclaiming  his  beauty  and  extolling 
his  agility  in  this  singular  harangue.  The  tale  of 
his  capture  was  recited  in  a  sort  of  chant ;  how  the 
hunter  had  seen  him  twisting  himself  round  and 
round  in  the  grass,  to  attract  the  notice  of  some 
springboks,  the  last  lingerers  of  the  herd,  which 
were  following  leisurely;  how  one  of  the  antelopes, 
with  a  silly  curiosity,  went  up  to  look  at  the  com- 
motion among  the  herbage  and  was  instantly  torn 
down  by  the  lurking  enemy,  who  was  in  his  turn 
presently  transfixed  with  a  well-aimed  assagai. 
And  the  double  prey  created  unqualified  delight  in 
native  bosoms.  Mr.  Owen  was  struck  with  the 
fidelity  of  the  pantomime  depicting  all  the  fore- 
going scene — pantomime  accompanying  the  chant, 
and  showing  how  the  great  cat  had  crept  along, 
crouching,  glaring  through  the  grass  until  within 
convenient  distance  of  the  doomed  deer,  whom  he 
could  not  approach  nearer  because  the  herbage  was 


26 


402  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

not  long  enough ;  then  the  attitude  for  the  spring 
— hind  legs  bent,  head  flat  to  grciund,  forepaws 
stretched  forth,  teeth  shining  —  even  the  awful 
feline  concentration  of  eye  was  imaged  success- 
fully. A  European  could  have  comprehended  the 
whole  story,  though  not  a  word  of  it  in  language. 

Other  enemies  had  that  great  army  of  spring- 
boks, gradually  thinning  their  ranks  as  they 
marched  onward.  These  were  the  "  wilde  hon- 
den,"  gaunt  wild  dogs  scattered  over  the  country 
in  holes  and  dens,  possessing  the  stealth  and 
cunning  of  the  hyena  with  the  long  stride  and 
determined  ferocity  of  the  wolf;  and  at  night  the 
rally  ing-note  of  the  pack  would  sound — a  peculiar 
cry  uttered  by  some  old  hound,  gathering  all  the 
dogs  within  hearing  to  a  grand  hunting  of  deer. 
Fifty  or  sixty  strong,  they  would  dash  forth  in 
pursuit.  The  largest  eland,  the  most  agile  gnu, 
the  fleetest  springbok,  would  be  run  down  in  a 
wonderfully  short  space  of  time,  and  instantane- 
ously the  prey  was  torn  into  hundreds  of  pieces, 
scarce  a  bone  left  to  mark  the  scene  of  the  slaugh- 
ter. The  natives  feared  these  "  wilde  honden"  as 
much  as  wolves.  Sometimes  the  oxen  were  bitten 
by  them  severely,  and  they  had  a  peculiar  hate 
against  such  of  their  own  species  as  had  submitted 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  403 

to  the  yoke  of  man — the  civilized  dogs  which  fol- 
lowed the  wagon. 

And  so  our  party  travelled  on  toward  the  coun- 
try of  the  Bechuanas,  north  of  the  Ky  Guriep  or 
Orange  river,  which,  with  its  tributaries,  rolls  its 
vast  flood  almost  across  South  Africa.  Chiefly 
over  undulating,  grassy  plains  lay  their  way, 
sometimes  past  crags  and  kloofs,  where  multitudes 
of  baboons  were  sole  dwellers.  A  young  one  of 
these,  captured  after  infinite  trouble  and  a  pitched 
battle  with  a  fierce-biting  old  one,  was  installed  as 
pet  in  the  next  degree  to  the  wilderness  child,  and 
oft-times  amused  a  heavy  hour  with  his  grave 
pranks. 

The  tribes  on  their  route  were  gradually  emerg- 
ing from  the  Hottentot  and  degraded  Bushman 
type  into  the  much  nobler  race  of  Bechuanas.  A 
superior  physical  conformation  betokened  superior 
mental  powers.  The  shape  of  the  head  was  alter- 
ed, and  the  features  were  moulded  more  in  accord- 
ance with  European  ideas  of  intelligence  and  good 
looks.  The  understanding  of  the  people  was 
broader;  they  seemed  more  teachable. 

But,  alas !  all  the  heathen  vices  nourished  in  full 
force.  Thieving  was  scarcely  understood  to  be  a 
crime;  the  real  crime  was  being  detected.  Gilbert 


404  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

had  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout  upon  his  master's 
belongings.  One  clay,  while  Mr.  Owen  was 
preaching  or  rather  conversing  on  religion  before 
a  knot  of  Bechuanas,  the  women  all  adorned  with 
great  coils  of  beads  round  their  necks  and  arms 
and  no  profusion  of  other  clothing,  the  men's 
heads  chiefly  done  out  with  a  multiplicity  of  hard, 
tiny  curls,  shining  from  grease  and  powdered  mica 
— this  audience  squatting  in  a  half-circle  round  the 
hat-wearer,  as  they  designated  the  missionary — 
Gilbert  perceived,  standing  behind,  that  Mr.  Owen 
dropped  from  his  Bible  the  small  silver  pencil 
which  nestled  in  a  little  sheath  in  the  leathern 
cover.  A  minute  after  up  rose  a  native  and  went 
over  quite  close  to  the  missionary  in  his  apparent 
desire  to  argue  some  point,  and  Gilbert  saw  how 
he  planted  his  broad,  bare  foot  right  on  the  gleam- 
ing pencil-case.  A  momentary'  idea  that  it  would 
certainly  be  crushed  occurred  to  him,  but  some 
motion  of  the  muscles  of  the  toes  attracted  his 
attention :  the  Bechuana  was  just  working  the 
coveted  article  into  the  sand,  burying  it  for  future 
finding,  while  his  tongue  and  hands  were  engaged 
in  speech  and  gesticulations  to  take  off  the  owner's 
suspicion.  And  when  the  cheat  was  exposed,  he 
and  all  the  people  only  laughed  immoderately. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  405 

It  was  a  capital  good  joke  to  them,  the  single  dis- 
creditable part  of  the  affair  being  that  the  thief 
was  baulked  of  his  prize. 

A  good  deal  of  respect  was  gained  for  Mr.  Owen 
by  his  wagon  and  oxen.  This  is  the  acme  of  re- 
spectability in  Bechuana  esteem.  "  Has  Queen 
Victoria  many  cows?"  was  their  native  question 
to  an  English  traveller.  They  can  form  no  idea 
of  a  country  that  is  not  pastoral.  And  here  was 
the  wondrous  many-sidedness  of  the  Bible  brought 
out.  Abraham,  wandering  over  the  plains  of 
Canaan  with  his  herds  and  flocks,  was  the  very 
prototype  of  a  wealthy  South  African  chief.  In- 
numerable allusions  and  anecdotes  seemed  as  if 
written  purposely  for  the  state  of  society  here. 

Of  the  two  great  families  which  people  the 
countries  of  the  Cape,  the  primeval  Hottentots  and 
the  later  Caffres,  these  Bechuanas  are  a  subdivision 
of  the  last  named.  They  are  less  warlike  and  not 
so  passionately  fond  of  hunting,  "and  altogether 
are  a  more  manageable  people,  making  up  for  their 
slight  physical  inferiority  by  great  facility  of  mind, 
remarkably  social  habits  and  a  decided  taste  for 
all  lucrative  employment."  These  are  all  suscep- 
tibilities for  civilization. 

But  the  tribe  that  has  profited  most  by  inter- 


406  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

course  with  Europeans  and  by  the  labours  of  mis- 
sionaries is  the  people  called  Griquas.  They  have 
settled  down  from  the  wandering  life  of  their  con- 
geners into  a  wonderfully  civilized  community  near 
the  banks  of  the  Orange  river,  induced  to  do  so  by 
their  white  teachers.  And  at  the  two  principal 
towns,  Philippolis  and  Griqua-Town,  Mr.  Owen 
found  a  large  mass  of  natives  under  the  govern- 
ance of  pastors  and  schoolmasters  supported  by 
themselves  —  found  abundant  congregations  and 
many  real  Christians. 

Was  he  at  all  disappointed  when  he  came  to 
look  closer  into  matters?  Did  he  expect  a  higher 
degree  of  Christian  simplicity  apd  perfectness  than 
he  ought  to  have  expected,  or  than  is  to  be  found 
in  our  parishes  at  home?  Probably  so.  They  are 
quite  as  imperfect  as  ourselves,  these  poor  Griquas 
and  Bechuanas.  "  The  old  man"  is  even  stronger 
in  his  warring  against  the  Spirit,  for  he  has  been 
fortified  by  the  heathen  habits  of  years. 

Mr.  Owen  ministered  at  sundry  out-stations, 
where  no  regular  teaching  could  be  given  by  the 
overworked  missionaries  at  the  central  depots,  so 
to  speak.  And  he  found  that  the  poor  people  by 
themselves  kept  up  meetings,  and  taught  the  igno- 
rant children  and  adults  how  to  read,  and  published 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  407 

the  Christian  religion  so  far  as  they  were  able.  A 
native  ministry  is  much  to  be  desired  for  such  lo- 
calities as  these — men  of  the  colour  and  features  of 
the  land — who  should  teach  their  fellow-country- 
men from  personal  experience  of  Jesus  as  the  black 
man's  Saviour,  and  thus  redeem  Christianity  from 
an  imputation  which  hampers  its  progress — the 
imputation  that  it  is  merely  a  foreign  and  exotic 
religion;  instead  of  which,  verily  it  is  founded 
deep  on  the  needs  of  every  human  heart. 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

LIGHT    FOR    THE    BECHUANAS. 

E.  OWEN  still  treked  northward,  on  the 
path  from  Griqua-Town  toward  the  Kuru- 
man,  where  dwelt  Robert  Moffat,  apostle 
of  the  Bechuanas — a  man  singularly  gifted 
for  his  noble  office,  and  singularly  blessed  of  God 
in  the  fulfilment  of  it. 

"We  would  here  quote  the  vivid  words  of  a  great 
writer:  "Where,  among  the  short-lived  glories  of 
men,  shall  we  find  a  truer  glory  than  this  ?  Where, 
among  all  the  brilliant  exploits  of  this  world's 
heroes,  shall  we  find  a  truer  heroism?  Where, 
among  all  the  boasted  conquerors,  philosophers 
and  benefactors  of  the  human  race,  shall  we  fix  our 
admiring  and  grateful  contemplation  on  talents 
more  worthily  exercised,  or  achievements  more 
brilliant,  or  an  honour  and  distinction  more  real, 
more  lasting,  more  blessed,  than  upon  an  ambassa- 
dor of  Christ,  a  missionary  of  the  cross,  going 
forth  on  the  errand  of  mercy  to  a  lost  world,  ex- 

403 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  409 

tending  the  bloodless  victories  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace,  consecrating  the  highest  gifts  of  intellect  on 
the  altar  of  a  Saviour's  love  ?" 

Such  praise  belongs  to  Robert  Moffat.  And  in 
the  future  reign  of  peace,  when  the  disastrous  deeds 
of  those  great  destroyers  whom  men  call  conquer- 
ors are  seen  in  their  true  light,  when  the  Alexan- 
ders and  Napoleons  are  seen  to  have  been  simple 
scourges  in  God's  hand, — then  will  lives  like  his 
be  found  to  have  reached  high  on  the  standard  of 
heaven's  glories,  and  to  have  earned  the  most  daz- 
zling place  on  heaven's  bead-roll  of  eternal  fame. 

The  whole  story  fired  the  soul  of  the  young  mis- 
sionary with  renewed  ardour.  He  was  approach- 
ing the  very  spot  made  sacred  by  those  holy  labours. 
He  read  again  the  narrative  of  long  discourage- 
ment and  sorely-tried  faith,  for  no  immediate 
success  had  been  vouchsafed  by  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest  to  his  patient  servant.  Five  years  he 
spent  his  strength  without  return  of  any  sort.  On 
the  contrary,  the  natives  seemed,  by  the  lapse  of 
time,  to  become  positively  gospel-proof — as  do 
many  who  are  not  Bechuanas,  but  live  in  the  full 
privileges  of  Christian  England.  He  could  write, 
in  bitterness  of  soul : 

"  Indifference  and  stupidity  sit  on  every  brow ; 


410  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

ignorance,  the  grossest  ignorance  of  divine  things, 
forms  the  basis  of  every  action.  No  conversions, 
no  inquiry  after  God,  no  objections  raised  to  exer- 
cise our  powers  in  defence.  It  is  only  things 
earthly,  sensual,  devilish,  which  stimulate  to  ac- 
tivity and  mirth ;  while  the  great  subject  of  the 
soul's  redemption  seems  to  them  like  an  old  and 
ragged  garment,  possessing  neither  loveliness  nor 
worth.  Oh,  when  shall  the  day-star  arise  on  their 
hearts?  We  preach,  we  converse,  we  catechise,  we 
pray,  but  without  the  least  apparent  success.  Only 
satiate  their  mendicant  spirits  by  giving  perpet- 
ually, and  we  are  all  that  is  good ;  refuse  to  meet 
their  demands,  and  their  praises  are  turned  to  ridi- 
cule and  abuse." 

Public  worship  was  attended  daily,  sometimes 
by  forty  natives;  but  how  indecorously!  Some 
went  fast  asleep;  some  worked,  some  chatted  and 
laughed.  Now  and  then  a  real  listener  would  be 
found — one  who,  perhaps,  had  a  shade  more  of  in- 
tellect than  the  rest.  Opportunity  was  taken  to 
rob  the  mission-houses  while  the  owners  were  ab- 
sent at  worship ;  often  has  the  housewife  found  a 
stone  in  the  boiling  pot  instead  of  the  meat  she 
had  put  in  on  going  out.  In  fact,  it  may  be  said  of 
these  Bechuanas,  that  they  were  measureless  thieves. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  411 

What  supported  the  good  men,  Hamilton  and 
Moffat,  amid  such  countless  discouragements? 
Faith  in  that  one  promise  solemnly  uttered  by  the 
Most  High — "I  will  be  exalted  among  the  hea- 
then !"  They  knew  that  "  the  Scripture  cannot  be 
broken." 

But  useless  as  the  circuits  about  the  walls  of 
Jericho  and  the  blowing  of  the  jubilee  trumpets 
must  have  appeared  to  the  scoffing  Canaanites  with- 
in, so  did  the  teaching  of  the  missionaries  appear 
to  these  other  heathen.  "  Have  any  of  the  rulers 
or  of  the  Pharisees  believed  on  him?"  was  an 
olden  question.  The  truth  is  tried  by  its  success, 
not  by  its  intrinsic  value. 

Slowly  Moffat  and  Hamilton  acquired  the  lan- 
guage, "  under  circumstances  the  most  unfavour- 
able, as  there  was  neither  place  of  retirement  for 
study,  nor  any  interpreter  worthy  of  the  name. 
After  being  compelled  to  attend  to  every  species 
of  manual,  and  frequently  menial  labour  for  the 
whole  day,  working  under  a  burning  sun,  standing 
on  the  sawpit,  labouring  at  the  anvil,  treading  clay 
or  employed  in  cleaning  a  water-ditch,  it  may  be 
imagined  that  I  was  in  no  very  fit  condition  for 
study,  even  when  a  quiet  hour  could  be  obtained. 
An  efficient  interpreter  was  not  in  the  country; 


412  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

and  when  everything  was  ready  for  inquiry,  the 
native  mind,  unaccustomed  to  analyze  abstract 
terms,  would,  after  a  few  questions,  be  completely 
bewildered." 

Another  African  explorer,  Dr.  Burchell,  says  on 
this  subject :  "  Those  whose  minds  have  been  ex- 
panded by  a  European  education  cannot  readily 
conceive  the  stupidity,  as  they  call  it,  of  savages, 
in  everything  beyond  the  simplest  ideas  both  of 
moral  and  physical  knowledge.  Their  life  em- 
braces so  few  incidents,  their  occupations,  thoughts 
and  cares  are  confined  to  so  few  objects,  that  their 
ideas  must  necessarily  be  equally  few  and  confined." 

Then  the  oral  tongue,  acquired  in  spite  of  such 
obstacles  as  these,  had  to  be  reduced  to  a  written 
tongue;  grammar  had  to  be  discovered  in  the 
strange  mass  of  vocables.  The  task  of  translation 
began.  A  learned  man  engaged  in  such  brain- 
work  in  Europe  has  libraries,  and  padded  chairs, 
and  desks,  and  plenty  of  leisure  for  the  occupation ; 
but  these  missionaries  had  no  such  aids ;  they  had 
the  lips  of  a  stupid  savage  for  their  dictionary,  and 
half  a  dozen  hard  handicrafts  for  the  employ  of 
their  best  hours.  All  honour  to  the  steadfast  per- 
severance which  at  last  gave  to  myriads  of  South 
Africans  the  Sechuana  Bible. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  413 

"We  itinerated  by  turn,"  says  Mr.  Moffat, 
"every  Sabbath,  to  the  neighbouring  villages;  and 
very  frequently,  after  four  or  five  miles'  walk, 
could  not  get  an  individual  to  listen  to  the  message 
of  divine  mercy.  We  were  wont  to  start  very 
early,  having  to  go  on  foot,  in  order  to  return  to 
the  station  before  the  sun  got  so  hot  as  to  cause 
walking  on  the  sand  to  be  attended  with  consider- 
able pain.  I  have  known  the  chief  of  a  village 
defer  the  collecting  of  his  people  together  till  the 
sun  had  become  very  hot,  knowing  our  extreme 
reluctance  to  return  without  having  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  saying  something  to  them  about  their 
eternal  interests ;  and  when  they  found  that  this 
delay  compelled  the  missionary,  in  his  course 
homeward  over  a  sandy  plain,  to  step  from  one 
tuft  of  grass  to  another,  and  stop  frequently  under 
the  shadow  of  a  bush  till  his  glowing  feet  should 
cool,  it  afforded  them  no  little  satisfaction  and 
enjoyment." 

Reader !  look  around  on  the  comfortable  home 
in  which  you  read  this  upon  the  Sabbath  afternoon, 
and  think  of  the  poor  missionary,  even  on  the 
same  Sabbath  perchance,  toiling  across  burning 
sands  to  speak  to  these  scoffing  pagans  the  word 
of  life.  Are  we  not  bound  to  gladden  the  heart 


414  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

of  such  a  labourer  and  to  strengthen  his  hands 
by  every  means  in  our  power?  He  is  the  militant 
man,  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle  against  Christ's 
enemies ;  we  are  the  private  Christians,  "  who  stay 
at  home  at  ease;"  and  we  will  give  him  of  the 
parings  from  our  luxuries,  and  with  niggard  hand 
cut  down  our  subscription  to  his  funds,  earliest  in 
every  retrenchment!  We  have  admiration  for  the 
blood-stained  heroes  of  battle,  and  none  for  the 
silent  endurance  that  has  relinquished  most  of  the 
sweetnesses  of  human  life,  and  voluntarily  under- 
taken most  of  its  hardships  and  sufferings ! 

The  first  convert  made  by  these  devoted  mis- 
sionaries was  Frausinna,  a  Hottentot  woman,  whose 
conduct  had  previously  been  most  injurious  to  the 
mission.  A  severe  illness  of  an  extraordinary 
nature  was  God's  agency  in  breaking  her  hard 
heart  and  bringing  her  to  the  feet  of  Jesus.  Dur- 
ing the  months  of  her  suffering  not  a  murmur 
escaped  her  lips;  she  showed  forth  the  fruits  of 
conversion  abundantly.  In  public  she  made  a  full 
confession  of  her  evil  conduct;  and  before  her 
death,  recalling  to  mind  the  injury  she  had  tried 
to  do  the  mission  by  persuading  the  men  to  abandon 
it,  she  charged  them  as  her  dying  bequest  not  to 
leave  the  missionaries.  With  4.he  utmost  calmness, 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  415 

and  in  full  anticipation  of  heavenly  glory,  she 
breathed  her  last — the  first  fruits  in  Bechuana- 
land. 

Troublous  times  succeeded.  "Wars  and  rumours 
of  wars  would  have  terrified  any  men  but  those 
who  knew  they  were  guarded  by  the  King  of  kings. 
Devouring  hordes  of  the  Mautatees  came  from  the 
far  interior,  and  swept  like  a  sirocco  over  the  land. 
''When  Thy  judgments  are  in  the  earth,  the  in- 
habitants of  the  world  will  learn  righteousness !" 
Now  was  it  proved.  Thousands  of  natives  gathered 
round  the  faithful  missionaries.  The  schools  and 
congregations  were  better  attended.  The  spell  of 
persistent  civilization  began  to  make  itself  felt,  in 
the  desire  for  settlement  that  was  evident  among 
the  wandering  tribes. 

Then  came  a  sort  of  Pentecostal  outpouring. 
The  long-cultured  fields  began  to  bear  some  symp- 
toms of  harvest.  "Sable  cheeks  bedewed  with 
tears  attracted  our  observation.  To  see  women 
weep  was  nothing  extraordinary;  according  to 
Bechuana  notions,  it  was  their  province  alone ;  but 
men  would  not  weep.  The  simple  gospel  now 
melted  their  flinty  hearts;  and  eyes  now  wept 
which  never  before  shed  a  tear  of  hallowed  sorrow. 
Notwithstanding  our  earnest  desires  and  fervent 


416  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

prayers,  we  were  taken  by  surprise ;  so  long  ac- 
customed to  indifference  had  we  been  that  we  felt 
unprepared  to  look  on  a  scene  which  perfectly  over- 
whelmed our  minds."  Some  time  before  the  first 
four  baptisms  had  taken  place  at  the  station,  but 
still  no  born  Bechuana.  Aaron  Josephs,  once  a 
slave,  now  a  farmer,  who  had  come  to  live  near  the 
missionaries  for  the  education  of  his  children,  had 
been  converted.  He  came  forward  and  offered  to 
build  a  school-house  or  chapel  at  his  own  expense; 
and  numbers  of  the  natives  helped  him. 

In  July,  1829,  six  persons  selected  from  among 
the  inquirers  were  baptized,  and  the  same  evening 
partook  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  "  These  had  given 
us  very  satisfactory  proofs  of  a  change  of  heart. 
After  particular  private  examination  separately, 
they  were  found  to  possess  a  much  larger  know- 
ledge of  divine  truth  than  was  expected.  It  was 
.truly  gratifying  to  observe  the  simplicity  of  their 
faith,  relying  with  implicit  fervour  on  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ,  concerning  which  they  appeared  to 
have  a  very  clear  conception."  And  now  there 
was  hope  for  the  Bechuanas,  who  had  so  often 
laughed  to  scorn  the  puny  efforts  of  the  mission- 
aries and  boasted  that  the  white  men's  Jehovah 
and  Jesus,  of  wh:>m  they  spoke  so  frequently, 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  417 

should  never  get  a  single  convert  in  the  tribes. 
These  very  Bechuanas  were  crying  out,  "  We  have 
been  like  the  beasts  before  God.  What  shall  we 
do  to  be  saved  ?" 

And  when  Mr.  Owen  visited  the  Kuruman,  he 
found  the  seed  sown  bearing  fruit  a  thousand-fold. 
The  dreary,  uncultivated  waste,  where  once  only 
clusters  of  beehive  huts  had  denoted  the  burrows 
of  half-brutalized  men,  was  metamorphosed  into 
a  district  of  willow-fenced  gardens,  neat  water- 
courses, comfortable  cottages  and  houses,  about  the 
centre  of  a  handsome  stone  chapel  and  school. 
More  distant  were  the  kraals  of  the  outlying  hea- 
then, each  day  having  before  their  eyes  living  evi- 
dence of  the  blessings  of  the  white  man's  religion. 
The  hitherto  waste  land  was  carefully  cultured  in 
fields  of  maize,  wheat,  potatoes,  barley,  tobacco,  as 
well  as  the  pumpkins  and  kidney-beans  which 
were  the  only  fruits  of  the  earth  known  to  their 
Bechuana  forefathers.  A  native  water-fiscal  had 
been  appointed  to  superintend  the  necessary  irriga- 
tion of  the  extensive  valley  brought  under  cultiva- 
tion. These  were  the  temporal  results. 

As  to  spiritual,  he  saw  hundreds  of  communi- 
cants— persons  who  had  been  admitted  into  the 
Church  of  God  with  great  carefulness  and  prayer. 

27 


418  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

He  heard  the  touching  story  of  Mothibi,  king  of 
Batlapis,  whose  heart  had  been  touched  by  the 
agency  of  a  native  reader.  The  old  man  came  to 
the  missionaries.  "  I  am  of  great  age,"  he  said ; 
"  there  is  nothing  left  but  my  old  bones  and  with- 
ered skin.  I  heard  the  word  from  the  beginning" 
— twenty-five  years  before — "but  never  under- 
stood, and  now  I  have  no  rest  night  nor  day.  My 
soul  is  sorrowful  and  burning  with  anguish;  my 
mind  is  dark  and  my  memory  cannot  retain  the 
good  word ;  but  though  it  forsakes  me,  it  does  me 
good — it  leaves  something  behind  in  my  soul 
which  I  cannot  explain,  but  which  causes  me  to 
hope.  I  wish  to  cast  myself  at  the  feet  of  Jesus, 
the  Son  of  God,  in  the  hope  that  he  will  have 
mercy  on  me."  And  this  chief  of  twenty  thou- 
sand Bechuanas  might  often  be  seen  weeping  over 
his  sins  and  his  lost  state  as  a  sinner.  He  stood 
up  with  some  of  the  humblest  of  his  own  people 
as  a  candidate  for  baptism  and  received  the  ordi- 
nance as  meekly  as  a  child. 

And  this  is  the  story  of  the  means  by  which  the 
God  of  missions  sent  light  among  the  Bechuanas 
by  the  hands  of  his  servants  Hamilton  and  Moffat. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

THE    RAIN-MAKER. 

HE  course  of  the  missionary's  party  was  now 
eastward,  toward  the  Orange  River  Free 
State  and  the  Basuto  country — properly 
called  Lesuto. 
The  language  of  these  regions  has  a  remarkable 
peculiarity  about  its  prefixes  to  express  singular  or 
plural  numbers.  "  Ba"  signifies  a  tribe  or  collec- 
tion of  persons,  as  the  Bakwains,  the  Basutos. 
An  individual  of  either  of  these  tribes  is  properly 
a  Mokwain,  a  Mosuto.  A  country  is  known  by 
the  prefix  "  Le,"  as  Lesuto ;  a  language  by  the 
prefix  "  Se,"  as  Sesuto,  the  tongue  of  the  Basutos, 
Sechuana,  the  tongue  of  the  Bechuanas.  And  of 
the  latter  it  may  be  stated  that  such  is  the  richness 
and  copiousness  of  its  vocabulary  that  after  thirty 
years'  study  Robert  Moffat  could  say  that  there 
was  not  a  week  in  which  he  did  not  discover  new 
words.  The  same  matter  could  be  expressed  in 
two  or  three  different  ways  without  using  any  of 

419 


420  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

the  same  expressions.  Yet  so  terse  and  concise  is 
the  phraseology  that  the  Pentateuch  of  his  trans- 
lation into  Sechuana  is  fully  expressed  in  fewer 
words  than  the  Septuagint,  and  of  course  in  much 
smaller  space  than  our  own  English  version. 
What  a  grand  name  the  holy  book — "  Molomo  oa 
Yehova,"  the  mouth  of  Jehovah.  That  volume 
was  the  greatest  boon  ever  conferred  upon  South 
Africa,  for  its  language  is  the  key  to  almost  all  the 
dialects  of  the  tribes,  even  so  far  north  as  the  Ma- 
kololo,  whose  court  tongue  is  Sechuana.  Other 
books  have  since  put  the  outlandish  dress  on  their 
familiar  forms :  among  them  is  Bunyan's  glorious 
"  Pilgrim,"  and  the  little  manual,  "  Line  upon 
Line." 

Mr.  Owen  studied  Sechuana  under  advantages 
such  as  the  veterans  in  the  mission-field  had  not ; 
he  entered  into  their  labours  so  far  and  enjoyed  the 
results.  He  had  hired  one  of  the  converts  to  be 
his  "  moonshee"  during  a  certain  length  of  journey 
— an  interpreter  rather  more  intelligent  than  the 
mochunka  of  whom  Dr.  Burchell  tells,  who  was 
often  obliged  to  be  let  off  his  task  when  he  had 
given  a  dozen  words,  "  as  it  was  evident  that  ex- 
ertion of  mind  or  continued  employment  of  the 
faculty  of  thinking  soon  wore  out  his  powers  of 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  421 

reflection  and  rendered  him  really  incapable  of 
paying  longer  attention  to  the  subject :  he  was  as 
a  child  whose  reason  was  dormant."  But  Mr. 
Owen's  interpreter,  whose  name  was  Kok,  had  re- 
ceived some  education  and  been  from  boyhood 
among  civilized  influences ;  added  to  which,  the 
truth  of  God  was  really  in  his  heart. 

His  master,  talking  to  him  in  Dutch,  asked  him 
what  he  thought  the  great  hindrance  to  the  spread 
of  the  gospel  among  his  tribe. 

"  Bad  hearts,"  briefly  replied  the  Bechuana,  with 
an  expressive  shake  of  the  head — "  bad  hearts." 

Yes,  all  the  world  over  the  same  story — the  car- 
nal mind  is  enmity  against  God,  hating  him  and 
his  truth  with  an  utter  hatred.  In  the  most  pol- 
ished congregation  of  West-end  Londoners,  as  in 
the  gathering  of  a  Caffre  kraal,  we  meet  the  same 
cardinal  disqualification  for  receiving  the  gospel — 
dislike  of  God  and  of  godliness. 

But  Mr.  Owen  meant  something  more  special 
than  this,  and  when  he  pressed  the  question,  Kok 
answered,  "  the  rain-maker."  He  is  the  priest  of 
the  worship  of  rain  that  prevails.  And  that  it 
should  prevail,  and  that  he  should  be  the  most 
powerful  man  in  all  the  land,  are  not  wonderful 
when  we  consider  that  the  droughts  of  South 


422  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Africa  are  equivalent  to  starvation  and  misery  for 
thousands. 

In  the  November  of  1862,  so  severe  was  the 
scarcity  at  Cradock  that  special  services  were  held 
in  the  mission-chapels,  beseeching  the  God  of  the 
elements  to  send  rain ;  but  even  in  the  midst  of 
their  own  distress  the  converts  bethought  them  of 
the  suffering  of  Lancashire,  and  sent  to  England 
two  hundred  pounds  (contributed  by  both  blacks 
and  whites)  for  the  relief  fund.  One  day  a  shower 
fell  for  about  ten  minutes,  hardly  enough  to 
sprinkle  the  parched  soil,  and  as  sooji  as  the  first 
drops  came  pattering  all  the  people  rushed  to  their 
windows,  the  school-children  clamouring  with  joy. 
Precious  beyond  measure  was  even  this  small  rain. 

When  it  is  thus  among  a  comparatively  civilized 
community,  what  is  the  excitement  among  the  god- 
less savages  of  the  veldt  or  wild  country?  No 
wonder  that  a  class  of  impostors  have  arisen  who 
profess  that  they  can  summon  the  clouds  and 
cause  the  rain  to  fall.  After  the  heavens  have 
been  like  brass  for  months  and  the  earth  is  yawn- 
ing in  fissures,  and  that  olden  curse  seems  fulfill- 
ing, "  The  Lord  shall  make  the  rain  of  thy  land 
as  powder  and  dust,"  then  the  ignorant  people 
crowd  around  their  chiefs,  crying,  "  Give  us  rain .' 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  423 

give  us  rain !"  The  diviner  who  promises  rain 
will  get  their  choicest  treasures. 

Kok  remembered  one  rain-maker  among  the 
Bechuanas  who  demanded,  as  the  first  condition  of 
his  attempting  to  call  the  clouds,  that  a  young 
haboon  should  be  caught  and  brought  to  him — one 
without  blemish,  without  the  loss  even  of  a  hair 
from  its  skin.  And  when,  after  infinite  trouble, 
one  was  actually  captured,  the  diviner  put  on  a 
look  of  intense  sorrow.  "  My  heart  is  rent  in 
pieces ;  I  am  dumb  with  grief.  Did  I  not  tell  you 
that  I  could  not  make  rain  if  one  hair  be  want- 
ing?" And  he  pointed  to  the  animal's  tail,  which 
wanted  some  hairs.  Again  he  demanded  a  lion's 
heart,  saying  that  if  he  had  one  to  make  strong 
medicine  for  the  clouds  he  could  cause  rain  so  as 
to  sweep  away  whole  kraals  with  a  flood.  Joyful 
news  !  Every  energy  was  addressed  to  procuring 
the  charm,  but  the  rain  came  no  sooner. 

"  And  why  did  not  the  people  see  that  he  was 
an  impostor  when  he  failed  so  frequently  ?  Why 
did  not  they  drive  him  away  out  of  the  town?" 

"  Satan  too  strong  for  that,"  replied  Kok  ;  "  Sa- 
tan like  rain-makers.  Besides,  they  always  said 
he  had  not  got  the  right  charm  yet — he  would 
have  it  some  day."  And  so  the  delusion  went  on. 


424  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"When  at  last,  in  the  natural  course  of  the  seasons, 
rain  comes,  the  impostor  claims  credit  for  the  last 
promise,  and  his  many  failures  are  forgotten  in  the 
excitement  of  the  dupes. 

Now  it  happened  that  at  a  certain  village  where 
the  country  was  much  burnt  up  from  drought,  a 
deputation  of  the  chief  and  the  principal  men 
came  to  solicit  the  white  missionary  to  be  their 
rain-maker.  They  acknowledged  that  they  had 
treated  a  rain-maker  very  badly  some  time  before, 
being  provoked  with  the  length  of  time  that 
elapsed  after  his  coming  without  any  showers,  as 
he  promised,  though  they  did  everything  he  asked 
them  most  exactly.  But  if  the  white  teacher 
would  cause  the  clouds  to  gather  and  rain  to  fall, 
they  would  give  him  anything — the  plains  should 
be  covered  with  his  flocks  and  herds ;  he  should 
wash  his  hands  in  milk  !  As  foretaste  of  his  con- 
tingent possessions,  they  brought  him  a  black 
sheep  and  a  cow. 

"  No  man  can  make  rain,"  said  Kok,  the  inter- 
preter ;  "  only  the  great  God  who  lives  above  the 
sky.  The  white  teacher  Owen  will  ask  him  to 
send  the  rain,  but  he  wants  no  present  for  doing  it. 
He  will  speak  to  the  great  God  to  send  the  rain,  if 
it  is  his  will." 


THE  FOUNTAIN  .KLOOF.  425 

Mr.  Owen  remembered  having  read  that  once  at 
Lattakoo,  in  a  time  of  drought,  and  when  the  in- 
cantations of  the  rain-makers  had  failed,  Mothibi, 
the  king,  sent  to  ask  the  missionaries  to  pray  for 
the  boon ;  and  from  the  time  they  began  to  pray 
their  God  sent  the  rain — each  week  some.  Per- 
haps the  Bechuanas  of  this  remote  kraal  had  heard 
of  the  incident,  for  at  the  time  it  procured  no  small 
favour  for  the  white  teachers,  who  were  considered 
most  powerful  medicine-men  in  consequence. 

Clouds  arose,  indeed,  the  very  evening  of  the 
day  that  Mr.  Owen  outspanned  beside  this  kraal ; 
and  high  was  the  hope  as  gradually  they  lifted 
themselves  from  the  horizon  and  dispersed  in  the 
air,  shading  the  burnished  vault  of  the  heavens 
with  a  most  welcome  gloom  !  But,  alas  !  too  soon 
the  reddish  hue  of  the  air  told  the  nature  of  the 
deceptive  clouds  ;  they  were  not  rain,  but  sand  from 
the  desert ;  fine,  almost  impalpable  sand,  whirled 
up  in  columns  by  some  distant  storm,  borne  aloft 
and  discharged  at  intervals  on  the  earth  by  a  furi- 
ous wind.  Dire  was  the  disappointment  as  the 
steady,  sand-laden  blast  swept  through  every  chink 
of  the  beehive  huts,  blinding  the  eyes  and  drying 
the  skin,  and  even  spoiling  the  food. 

And,  whereas,  they  had  listened  respectfully  to 


426  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

the  white  man's  expounding  the  truth  of  God's 
character  to  them  in  the  morning,  they  would  in 
nowise  hear  him  next  day.  Why  had  he  not 
brought  rain  ?  He  was  not  able,  which  Mr.  Owen 
freely  confessed ;  it  was  the  will  of  God. 

"  See,"  said  the  interpreter,  "  we  are  not  like 
your  false  rain-makers,  who  constantly  pretend 
that  their  incantations  have  failed  only  in  some 
small  particulars  when  they  fail  in  bringing  the 
showers.  We  tell  you  that  the  power  is  not  in 
men's  hands,  but  in  the  hands  of  the  great  Morimo 
('  Him  who  is  above'),  who  made  heaven  and  earth." 

"  But  our  Morimo  would  never  send  us  rain ; 
he  would  send  us  the  red  sandstorm  instead ;  he  is 
not  good,"  said  the  chief,  drawing  his  kaross  about 
his  lean  form.  "  He  lives  in  a  hole  in  the  north  ; 
we  fear  him,  he  can  put  the  cattle  to  death." 

"  This  is  a  false  Morimo,"  replied  Kok.  "  You 
tell  me  '  litlamane'  (fables).  But  if  you  pray  to 
the  white  man's  God,  who  made  all  the  world,  he 
is  kind;  he  would  send  rain.  Once  I  believed 
those  stories  of  the  rain-makers  myself.  I  went 
out  to  meet  them,  and  paid  them  honour,  and 
obeyed  them.  God  has  taught  me  differently  since; 
I  worship  him  now." 

"Then  get  rain  from  your  Morimo,"  was  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  427 

rejoinder.  "As  for  us,  we  have  sent  for  the  great 
rain-maker  of  the  east,  and  he  will  come  and  give 
medicine  to  the  clouds,  and  bring  them  over  from 
the  mountains  of  his  country;"  and  with  an  inter- 
jection of  contempt  for  the  white  man,  the  chief 
strode  away. 

Mr.  Owen  stayed  by  the  village,  in  the  hope  of 
getting  further  opportunity  for  speaking  to  the  in- 
habitants. He  walked  through  the  clustering  huts 
while  they  were  at  their  daily  occupations — making 
kurosses  of  jackal's  skin,  weaving  grass  baskets  so 
close  and  fine  that  they  could  hold  milk  without 
leaking,  manufacturing  assagais,  shaping  an  orig- 
inal sort  of  pottery.  The  latter  was  formed  of  a 
soft,  greenish  freestone,  pounded  into  powder  and 
clay,  which  was  wrought  by  the  hands,  a  small 
piece  added  every  day  to  the  jar  or  pot,  and  dried 
in  the  sun,  until  the  whole  was  finished,  when  it 
was  set  in  a  hole  in  the  ground  and  fire  heaped 
about  it.  The  workman  had  one  or  two  well- 
shaped  vessels  to  show. 

In  another  place  the  villagers  had  killed  an  ox, 
chopped  up  its  fat  with  leaves  and  twigs  from  a 
certain  bush,  and  set  the  whole  on  fire.  This  was 
a  charm  to  call  down  the  longed-for  rain ;  but  still 
the  serene  heaven  was  unclouded.  One  man  grew 


428  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

angry,  and  shook  his  impotent  spears  against  the 
far  sky. 

Every  hope  was  now  staked  on  the  coming  of 
the  wizard  for  whom,  they  had  sent.  Suddenly 
came  flying  into  the  kraal,  toward  sundown,  an 
excited  native,  with  orders  from  the  approaching 
power.  None  of  the  dead  who  might  be  lying  in 
the  village  were  to  be  buried,  but  dragged  outside, 
to  be  a  prey  to  hyenas  and  leopards — which  was 
done;  a  thong  was  fastened  about  the  bodies  by 
the  relatives,  for  no  Bechuana  will  touch  a  corpse ; 
and  so  the  dishonoured  dead  were  drawn  into  the 
bush  to  be  devoured  before  morning. 

Another  messenger  came  running  with  another 
message;  white  oxen  were  to  be  killed,  and  the  very 
best  set  apart  for  the  mighty  medicine-man.  All 
who  were  not  engaged  in  fulfilling  this  behest  went 
forth  to  meet  him  with  shoutings;  the  very  air 
rang.  Mr.  Owen  and  his  party  stood  aside  and 
watched  the  tumultuous  procession,  amid  which 
marched  the  rain-maker,  with  an  inscrutable  coun- 
tenance, wearing  no  end  of  beads  and  brass  wire 
girding  his  limbs,  a  handsome  leopard-skin  kaross 
floating  behind  him,  and  a  jar,  supposed  to  contain 
his  all-powerful  nostrums,  between  his  hands. 
His  head  was  done  out  with  vast  numbers  of 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  429 

metallic  curls  or  knobs  of  hair,  shining  with  grease 
and  blue  powder ;  altogether  he  was  attired  in  the 
perfection  of  Bechuana  dandyism ;  practicing,  as 
many  another  potentate  has  practiced,  the  spell  of 
fine  attire  and  ornament  on  the  multitude. 

Evidently  he  had  been  informed  concerning  the 
missionary  and  his  doctrines  subversive  of  rain- 
making,  for  he  stopped  nearly  opposite  to  the  wagon 
and  began  to  proclaim  his  own  power.  Once  he 
had  checked  the  course  of  an  army  with  a  flood 
in  the  bed  of  a  hitherto  dry  river ;  he  had  caused 
the  clouds  to  burst  on  the  villages  of  his  enemies 
and  sweep  them  all  away.  He  would  now  bring 
such  an  abundance  of  rain  that  the  low-lying  fields 
would  be  drowned ;  the  water-course,  now  contain- 
ing a  few  pools  at  intervals  of  hard-baked  clay, 
would  be  alive  with  fish;  never  had  such  corn 
waved  in  the  air  as  would  wave  next  harvest ;  the 
flocks  and  herds  would  have  such  abundance  of 
pasture  as  to  return  home  satisfied  before  noon, 
whereas  now  they  had  scarce  enough  by  eventide. 
The  people  listened  with  gaping  mouths,  believing 
all.  In  a  certain  number  of  days  would  the  fer- 
tilizing showers  begin ;  meantime,  he  would  make 
smoke  on  the  hills — smoke  which  should  bear  his 
commands  to  the  clouds,  and  bring  them  hither 


430  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

without  fail.  Rapturous  applause  followed  his 
address,  and  many  a  sneer  was  levelled  at  the 
white  men.  "  Do  you  hear  what  our  rain-maker 
says  ?  He  is  more  powerful  than  your  Morimo." 

Here  it  may  be  noticed  that  the  term  "  Morimo," 
chosen  by  the  missionaries  to  express  the  idea  of 
God,  and  derived  from  a  personal  pronoun  and  the 
root  "above,"  has  not  the  same  meaning  in  the 
untaught  native  mind ;  it  means  some  power,  spir- 
itual, unknown,  dreaded  because  generally  malig- 
nant ;  in  fact,  there  was  no  word  in  all  the  richly 
copious  Sechuana  language  to  express  the  infinite, 
self-existent,  all-powerful  and  beneficent  being, 
God ;  the  missionaries  were  compelled  to  choose 
the  best  noun  they  could  find,  and  the  choice  has 
been  approved  by  all  intelligent  natives  as  most 
appropriate. 

When  Mr.  Owen  reflected  on  the  date  allotted 
by  the  rain-maker  for  the  beginning  of  his  boon 
of  rain,  he  found  that  the  number  of  days  just 
coincided  with  the  next  change  of  moon,  at  which 
period  there  is  always  greatest  probability  of  an 
alteration  of  the  weather  in  those  latitudes.  This 
confirmed  him  in  the  opinion  already  acquired  from 
a  gaze  at  his  astute  vigage  and  calculating  eye,  that 
the  wizard  was  more  rogue  than  enthusiast.  But 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  431 

he  had  all  the  manner  of  the  latter.  He  told  his 
dupes  how  he  had  heen  in  a  very  far  country, 
where  was  the  hole  out  of  which  all  mankind  and 
beasts  had  originally  come ;  and  had  even  seen  the 
Morimo  there;  had  paid  thirty  cows  and  forty 
karosses  and  sixty  strings  for  a  knowledge  of  rain- 
making  in  this  land.  He  commanded  that  when 
a  cloud  appeared  in  the  sky — for  sometimes  such 
floated  past  high  in  air — all  work  should  be  sus- 
pended and  not  a  hoe  put  in  the  ground;  and 
always  had  an  excuse  to  account  for  the  fact  that 
no  rain  followed  after  all.  Herbs  were  gathered 
and  burned  in  different  directions  on  the  eminences, 
and  the  smokes,  his  messengers,  duly  attended,  but 
no  answer  was  returned  from  the  limpid  heights  of 
atmosphere. 

At  last  a  meeting  of  the  chief  men  was  held 
concerning  all  this  unsuccess.  There  was  danger 
for  the  rain-maker  in  such  a  council ;  often  had  it 
proved  the  herald  of  a  violent  death  to  members 
of  his  guild.  For  seldom  are  rain-makers  per- 
mitted to  die  in  their  beds.  "There  is  not  one 
tribe  who  have  not  imbrued  their  hands  in  the 
blood  of  these  impostors,  whom  they  first  adore, 
then  curse,  and  lastly  destroy." 

The  man  marched  boldly  into  the  midst  of  the 


432  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

council,  where  he  had  just  been  called  a  rogue,  a 
lion,  a  wolf,  and  other  opprobrious  epithets,  and 
proclaimed  that  he  had  found  the  cause  of  the 
obstinacy  of  the  clouds.  "The  white-faced  men 
frighten  them  away ;  when  they  are  gone  four  days' 
journey,  rain  will  come." 

A  peremptory  message  for  the  departure  of  the 
wagon  was  the  result.  Mr.  Owen  heard  subse- 
quently that  the  rain-maker's  prediction  having 
again  failed,  he  would  certainly  have  been  killed 
by  his  enraged  employers,  had  he  not  saved  his 
skin  by  pretending  that  he  must  return  to  his  own 
mountains  in  the  east,  and  roll  great  stones  down 
to  prevent  the  clouds  staying  on  their  tops ;  and 
he  took  good  care  never  to  go  back  to  the  Bechuaua 
kraal. 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

FRENCH    MISSIONARIES. 


the  river  Vaal,  a  tributary  of 
that  huge  Orange  river  which  he  had 
crossed  twice  before  during  these  his  wan- 
derings, Mr.  Owen  found  himself  in  the 
Free  State  of  the  Boers.  Almost  immediately  a 
field-cornet  came  to  search  whether  his  wagon  con- 
tained powder  or  fire-arms,  wherewith  the  mission- 
ary might  contemplate  supplying  the  natives  ;  and 
when  the  Dutchman  heard  what  was  his  errand  in 
the  travels,  he  seemed  to  look  upon  the  strangers 
with  double  suspicion. 

A  strangely  primitive  people  were  these  African 
descendants  of  Europeans.  Seeing  white  faces  and 
hearing  a  white  tongue,  one  naturally  expected 
something  of  the  manners  of  a  white  race.  It  was 
so,  perhaps,  but  of  a  white  race  five  hundred  years 
behind  existing  nations.  No  post-offices,  no  news- 
papers ;  the  inhabitants  perfectly  ignorant  of  what 
was  taking  place  beyond  the  few  farms  immediately 

28  433 


434  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

around  them ;  geography  and  history  a  dead  letter; 
no  knowledge  but  of  cattle  and  crops,  no  conver- 
sation but  of  these  and  hunting  exploits.  Yet 
they  seemed  contented  enough ;  spending  their 
spare  time  in  smoking — tobacco  grows  abundantly 
— and  in  drinking  coffee  or  the  more  injurious 
Cape  brandy. 

Their  constitutional  dislike  and  dread  of  Eng- 
lishmen—  to  avoid  whom  they  emigrated  here 
during  the  early  settlement  of  the  Albany  district — 
made  even  mere  passing  through  their  country  not 
very  pleasant.  The  neighbouring  republic,  which 
calls  itself  the  Trans- Vaal,  has  been  known  to  fine 
an  Englishman  five  hundred  dollars  for  merely 
writing  a  letter  in  a  Cape  newspaper  about  the 
country,  and  he  was  imprisoned  until  the  unjust 
fine  was  paid.  The  Dutchmen  of  the  Orange  River 
State  are  no  whit  more  liberal  or  enlightened. 

It  is  through  this  land  that  the  young  men  of 
the  Bakwain  tribe  have  to  pass  when  they  would 
go  and  work  in  the  colony,  with  the  hope  of  ac- 
quiring a  few  cattle  and  setting  up  for  rich  men  in 
their  native  kraal  after  three  or  four  years ;  and 
taking  advantage  of  such  transit,  the  Boers  made 
a  law  that  such  labourers  should,  on  their  return, 
be  deprived  of  the  few  cows  they  had  acquired  by 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  435 

years  of  hard  work.  "  We  are  their  roasters ;  let 
them  work  for  us !"  Enforced  and  unpaid  toil ! 
And  their  particular  horror  is  the  extension  of 
Christianity  among  the  natives.  Mr.  Owen,  after 
many  vexatious  interruptions  and  stoppages,  while, 
he  satisfied  the  authorities  that  he  had  no  gun- 
powder hidden  anywhere,  was  glad  to  cross  the 
frontier  and  find  himself  in  the  really  free  country 
of  the  Basutos. 

After  flats,  which  appeared  interminable,  he  was 
approaching  the  mountain  ranges,  which  are  the 
watershed  of  South  Africa.  The  mighty  Orange 
river,  the  Caledon,  the  Vaal  and  the  Lekoa,  flow 
to  the  west,  across  vast  plains,  with  slow  and  ma- 
jestic course;  while  more  rapid  and  much  more 
short  are  the  streams  to  the  east,  finding  level  in 
the  Indian  Ocean — the  Buffalo  river,  Umzimvubu, 
the  Tongela,  the  Umgeni,  which  water  our  colony 
of  Natal. 

Huge  table-headed  condensers  were  most  of  these 
mountains,  seizing  and  detaining,  on  their  broad 
stony  summits,  the  treasures  of  vapour  floating 
from  the  sea,  which  might  otherwise  fertilize  the 
arid  interior,  but  which  now  flow  down  the  sides 
of  the  range  in  trickling  brooks.  What  fastnesses 
would  he  those  small  plains  on  the  top  of  each 


436  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

hill,  surrounded  by  a  rampart  of  bristling  gray 
rocks,  like  a  mural  crown  !  As  fastnesses  they 
have  been  sometimes  used,  for  this  picturesque 
country  has  been  the  scene  of  exterminating  wars ; 
nay,  of  a  barbarity  scarce  coupled  with  any  re- 
corded warfare  out  of  the  Fiji  islands — the  bar- 
barity of  cannibalism.  Caverns  among  these  rocks 
have  been  inhabited  by  man-eating  men  ;  those  are 
yet  alive  who  remember  that  this  was  the  fate  of 
all  prisoners  taken  in  battle.  Which  terrible  state 
of  things  was  ended  by  the  energy  and  common 
sense  of  one  man  —  Moshesh,  the  chief  of  the 
mountain.  He  was  born  a  chief,  but  for  many 
years  had  little  reason  to  be  glad  of  his  honours ; 
for  savage  tribes,  the  Mantatees,  the  Zulus  and  the 
Fingoes,  fought  incessantly  with  the  Basutos  and 
wellnigh  ruined  them.  Thousands  of  the  latter 
fled  into  Cape  Colony,  and  returned  only  when 
the  bravery  of  the  chief  had  restored  peace  to  their 
country  and  his  firmness  had  put  down  cannibalism. 
A  beautiful  country !  The  table-headed  moun- 
tains looked  down  over  green  glens  and  well- 
watered  vales.  The  music  of  streams  was  on  all 
sides — choicest  of  melodies  to  those  who  had  long 
sojourned  in  dry  and  thirsty  lands.  Vegetation 
was  again  of  the  richest  verdure,  instead  of  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  437 

yellowish  desert  hue.  The  chief  fault  of  the  terri- 
tory seemed  to  be  the  few  inhabitants  who  were 
here  to  enjoy  Nature's  profuse  gifts  of  shade  and 
Avater.  A  jerboa  leaping  from  rock  to  rock,  a 
group  of  monkeys  chattering  from  some  over- 
hanging "  krantz,"  an  antelope  gazing  with  great 
timid  eyes  from  the  brow  of  a  crag,  these  were  the 
living  things  our  travellers  saw.  Afterward  they 
discovered  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  had 
good  cause  for  keeping  themselves  and  their  herds 
as  far  as  might  be  from  the  Dutch  frontier. 

Mr.  Owen  was  on  his  way  to  visit  the  far-famed 
chief  of  the  mountain  himself,  who  desired,  where 
practicable,  to  see  all  white  strangers  passing 
through  his  country.  As  the  missionary  drew 
near  to  the  chief's  stronghold  at  the  five-sided 
rock-fortress  of  Thaba-Bosio,  he  found  great  flocks 
and  herds  filling  the  valleys  and  covering  the 
slopes  of  the  hills.  Here  and  there  were  hamlets, 
rather  better  than  the  kraals  of  the  Bechuanas; 
whence  came  people  to  gaze  on  the  white  men  and 
their  lumbering  wagon — whose  travelling  was  here 
indeed  rather  of  a  rugged  description,  requiring 
considerable  powers  of  steerage  on  the  stony  paths. 

They  found  the  chief,  a  handsome,  dignified- 
looking  brown  man,  with  a  slight  black  moustache 


438  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

and  beard,  wearing  long  earrings  and  a  feather  and 
fillet  in  his  woolly  hair,  but  having  an  expression 
on  his  face  which  seemed  incongruous  with  such 
childish  ornament — an  expression  of  thoughtful- 
ness  and  benevolence.  And  this  suited  well  the 
true  story  told  of  an  assault  made  by  the  Zulus  on 
his  fortress  at  Thaba-Bosio.  After  he  had  re- 
pulsed them  thrice  with  great  loss,  and  they  were 
inarching  away  home  in  discomfiture,  a  native  ap- 
tive  appeared  before  their  first  ranks  driving  some 
fat  oxen ;  he  had  this  message :  "  Moshesh  the 
chief  salutes  you.  Supposing  that  hunger  brought 
you  into  his  country,  he  sends  you  these  cattle 
that  you  may  eat  them  on  your  way  home." 

No  common  African  would  act  thus  toward  his 
foes,  but  it  freed  him  from  Zulu  invasions  for 
ever. 

After  some  brief  conference  with  Mr.  Owen,  he 
directed  him  to  Moriah,  the  earliest  settlement  of 
the  French  Protestant  missionaries,  situate  eight 
leagues  from  his  own  fortress  of  Thaba-Bosio. 
There  Mr.  Owen  found  a  flourishing  station,  full 
congregations  and  a  most  hopeful  work.  He 
heard  the  story  of  its  origin  and  progress,  which 
seemed  to  have  been  beset  by  less  discouragement 
than  many  another  mission-field,  either  from  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  439 

superior  disposition  of  the  people  or  altogether 
from  the  peculiar  blessing  of  the  Most  High 
vouchsafed  in  his  sovereignty  here. 

Moshesh  placed  his  two  sons,  Letsie  and  Mola- 
po,  under  the  care  of  the  missionaries  for  education, 
and  the  public  patronage  thus  given  was  useful  to 
their  cause.  About  a  year  and  a  half  after  settling 
at  Moriah,  Mr.  Casalis  was  able  to  attempt  oral 
translations  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  dialect  of  the 
Basutos,  which  is  full  of  liquid  harmonies  and 
imitative  sounds.  Thenceforth  the  truth  began  to 
have  effect,  for  God's  own  word  can  never  re- 
turn unto  him  void.  When  the  missionary  was 
at  the  capital  he  had  four  hundred  regular  audi- 
tors, Moshesh  himself  coming  punctually  at  ten 
o'clock  with  his  retinue,  and  remaining  all  day 
upon  the  ground,  setting  a  good  example  to  his 
subjects. 

Twenty  years  have  passed  since  the  French  mis- 
sionaries began  to  labour  in  the  country  of  the 
Basutos,  and  now  it  is  studded  with  settlements 
bearing  such  names  as  Carmel,  Hebron,  Bethesda, 
Beersheba,  Hermon.  "  The  organization  of  Chris- 
tian society  is  slow,  but  sure  and  progressive  among 
people  the  masses  of  whom  are  still  under  the  do- 
minion of  traditional  errors.  The  converts  evince 


440  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF, 

intelligence  and  tact;  they  are  able  to  give  in  a 
new  and  interesting  manner  the  impressions  they 
receive ;  but  here,  as  everywhere,  the  good  is  not 
unmixed  with  evil.  ...  In  a  temporal  point  of 
view,  the  arrival  of  the  missionaries  has  been  the 
salvation  of  the  Basutos.  The  country  which  in 
1833  we  found  almost  uninhabited  is  now  covered 
with  hamlets,  surrounded  by  fields  in  a  high  state 
of  cultivation.  The  people  begin  to  complain  of 
too  great  an  accumulation  of  horses  and  cattle."  * 

Thus  writes  Mr.  Casalis,  one  of  the  fathers  of 
the  mission.  See  how  even  the  profession  of 
Christianity  is  equivalent  to  an  increase  of  social 
comfort  and  national  wealth  ! 

Matters  were  not  so  far  advanced  at  the  time  of 
our  travellers'  visit.  They  saw  only  the  rich  promise 
of  that  which  has  since  been  abundantly  fulfilled. 
They  heard  the  histories  of  the  earliest  converts — 
that  of  the  young  man  Entuta,  whose  soul  had  been 
aroused  by  a  sermon  on  the  words,  "  As  for  me 
and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord."  He  went 
to  the  preacher.  "  I  feel,"  said  he,  "  that  I  can- 
not conceal  the  change  God  has  wrought  in  me. 
Jesus  Christ  must  be  served  openly.  Some  months 
ago  the  Lord  said  to  my  heart,  '  Entuta,  how  will 
*  "  The  Basutos,"  p.  108. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  ZLOOF.  441 

you  escape  my  wrath  ?'  I  tried  at  first  to  deceive 
him,  and  answered,  '  I  am  so  young — what  harm 
can  I  have  done  ?  My  assagai  has  never  pierced 
a  man ;  I  eat  the  fruit  of  my  own  labour.'  But 
the  book  of  God  convicted  me  of  a  lie.  It  says, 
'  Thou  shalt  not  covet.'  Then  I  understood  that 
sin  was  in  my  soul.  It  says  also,  'Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,'  and  I 
was  convinced  that  all  my  life  I  had  loved  only 
myself.  As  I  wept  in  the  bitterness  of  my  soul, 
Jesus  said,  '  Come  unto  me,  thou  who  art  weary 
and  heavy-laden,  and  thou  shalt  find  rest.'  O  my 
shepherd,"  added  the  young  convert.  "  lay  the 
yoke  of  Christ  upon  me ;  I  will  bear  it  publicly." 
He  was  baptized  by  the  name  of  Manoah.  Some 
years  afterward  God  sent  him  a  swift  illness  to 
take  him  home  to  heaven.  "  Do  you  suffer 
much  ?"  asked  his  brother.  "  Yes,"  was  the  re- 
ply, "  but  the  Lord  sustains  me.  When  he  took 
me  into  his  service,  he  did  not  promise  that  I 
should  be  free  from  suffering."  When  the  twenty- 
third  Psalm  was  read,  he  observed,  in  a  low  voice, 
as  if  speaking  to  himself,  "  I  should  like  to  know 
if  David,  when  he  wrote  this  psalm,  was  dying 
like  me ;  it  is  so  comforting — the  comparison  is  so 
beautiful."  "  I  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,"  he  said 


442  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.   . 

to  the  pastor,  "  and  find  in  him  pardon  for  all  my 
sins.  I  have  been  happy  since  I  began  to  serve 
him ;  he  will  not  leave  me  now."  And  when  the 
last  hour  was  come,  he  repeated  twice,  in  broken 
accents,  "  I  am  happy  in  Jesus  !"  * 

Such  was  one  of  the  first  fruits,  soonest  garner- 
ed, of  the  French  Protestant  mission-work  among 
this  interesting  people.  Many  another  could  be 
told — instances  in  which  even  the  fiercest  opponents 
were  broken  down  by  the  love  of  Christ.  Libe, 
the  uncle  of  the  chief,  and  a  man  who  would  with 
pleasure  have  slain  the  missionary,  became  con- 
verted to  God.  At  his  baptism  thousands  assem- 
bled, and  he  uttered  a  most  triumphant  confession 
of  faith,  original,  eloquent,  burning  with  earnest- 
ness. "'Are  there  no  joys  but  those  of  this  world  ?" 
said  he.  "  Have  we  not  in  Jesus  pleasures  which 
satisfy  us  ?"  Truly  this  man  was  taught  of  God. 
Flesh  and  blood  could  not  have  revealed  it  to  him, 
but  the  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 

And  as  for  temporal  prosperity,  the  settlements, 
Moriah,  Bethulie,  Beersheba,  which  Mr.  Owen 
visited,  presented  to  him  a  flourishing  aspect. 
There  were  large  orchards  and  cultivated  fields 
of  cereals,  surrounded  by  wide  pastures  lotted 
*  "  The  Baautos,"  p.  98. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  443 

with  flocks.  A  few  English-looking  houses  were 
scattered  among  the  orchards.  Most  prominent 
stood  a  large  whitened  building,  guessed  to  be  the 
church ;  behind,  some  rough-looking  low  cottages, 
walled  and  roofed  in  European  fashion,  belonging 
to  the  richer  and  more  advanced  of  the  converts ; 
farther  away  was  the  circular  kraal  of  circular  huts 
round  the  cattlefold — the  heathenism  in  which  the 
Christianity  has  to  work. 

And  he  saw  in  the  crowded  daily  congregations 
the  march  of  civilization  hand  in  hand  with  the 
gospel  likewise :  the  women  sitting  on  their  mats, 
a  handkerchief  tied  round  their  heads  as  covering ; 
the  school-children  gathered  nearest  the  reading- 
desk,  under  careful  monitors ;  the  men  wrapped  in 
skin  cloaks — such  of  them  as  have  not  European 
clothing.  What  energetic  hymns  !  The  worship- 
pers are  in  earnest,  and  no  whit  ashamed  to  let 
their  voices  be  heard  in  praising  God. 

Well  might  their  Dutch  neighbours  dread  and 
hate  Christianity  for  these  Basutos ;  it  has  welded 
their  scattered  tribes  into  a  powerful  and  inde- 
pendent nation  of  freemen.  Since  the  days  of  Mr. 
Owen's  visit  they  have  asserted  their  independence 
on  this  wise  : 

Boshoff,   president  of  the  Orange  River  State, 


444  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

sent  to  demand  of  the  Basutos  certain  lands  as  in- 
demnification for  alleged  losses  of  cattle.  Moshebh 
was  ready  for  reasonable  compensation,  but  not  for 
this  requirement.  He  refused,  and  the  Boers  de- 
clared war.  His  country  was  entered  by  two 
"commandos,"  or  piratical  expeditions,  at  the  same 
time.  They  struck  straight  at  the  missionary  sta- 
tions, sacked  four  of  them,  and  also  the  town  of 
Sraithfield,  which  was  built  on  land  ceded  by  Mo- 
shesh  to  the  Dutch  Presbyterians.  Both  comman- 
dos united  to  destroy  the  flourishing  settlement  of 
Moriah.  The  orders  of  the  chief  to  his  sons  and 
other  leaders  were,  that  they  were  uniformly  to  re- 
tire before  the  enemy  to  his  original  stronghold, 
the  five-sided  rock-fortress  of  Thaba-Bosio;  and  so 
the  Boers  marched  on  in  triumph,  plundering  and 
burning  and  wasting  the  land,  travelling  leisurely 
in  wagons,  some  of  them,  so  much  did  they  despise 
the  foe.  But  on  nearing  the  fastness  of  the  chief, 
they  discovered  that  the  whole  country  was  alive 
with  legions  of  his  subjects  ;  armed  men  lurked 
behind  every  rock,  commanded  every  pass.  The 
Boers  began  to  think  rather  more  seriously  of  their 
enterprise.  They  placed  their  wagons  in  a  circle 
as  an  entrenchment,  planting  two  pieces  of  field- 
artillery  in  front,  under  cover  of  whose  fire  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  445 

main  body  advanced  to  storm  the  town ;  but  they 
were  beaten  back  almost  immediately,  and  after 
five  hours'  fighting  had  to  withdraw.  The  second 
and  third  days  they  fared  no  better,  and  at  length 
decamped.  What  news  greeted  their  retiring 
troops  !  Vast  bands  of  the  Basutos  had  been  let 
loose  on  the  Free  State  while  the  Boers  were  so 
congenially  occupied  in  the  destruction  of  mission- 
stations,  and  carried  away  enormous  booty  of  cattle 
— quite  enough  to  indemnify  them  for  their  burnt 
villages  and  plundered  homes.  The  president  of 
the  Free  State,  in  a  panic,  sent  a  message  to  Mo- 
shesh  requesting  peace,  and  here  is  some  of  the 
African  chief's  answer  to  the  man  who  had  called 
himself  a  Christian : 

"  Your  messenger  came  last  night  speaking  of 
peace.  I  am  sorry  you  ever  spoke  of  war.  It 
was  not  Moshesh  who  began.  When  you  attacked 
the  inhabitants  of  Beersheba,  who  had  done  you 
no  harm,  I  was  surprised  and  grieved  beyond  any- 
thing I  could  say.  .  .  .  You  call  yourself  a  Chris- 
tian in  the  letter  you  wrote.  Do  not  force  us  to 
believe  there  is  no  God?  Why  should  your  Chris- 
tianity consist  in  the  destruction  of  Christians  ? 
Have  your  commanders  not  destroyed  the  beauti- 
ful station  of  Beersheba?  Did  they  not  burn  the 


446  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

mission-houses  at  Moriah?  When  you  were  be- 
fore Thaba-Bosio,  you  fired  more  than  ten  cannon- 
shots  at  the  mission-house,  but  the  Lord  did  not 
let  your  balls  reach  it.  I  will  never  believe  that 
Christianity  consists  in  carrying  away  women  and 
children  prisoners  and  shooting  down  the  old  and 
the  sick,  which  is  what  your  warriors  have  done. 
When  I  made  war  on  Sekoniela,  I  ordered  my 
people  not  to  touch  the  churches  in  the  country  of 
that  chief;  they  were  respected.  And  the  children 
of  a  Christian  chief  have  sacked  and  destroyed 
churches,  while  the  children  of  a  heathen  chief 
have  feared  to  touch  God's  house !  Could  any  one 
be  surprised  if  I,  a  barbarian,  followed  the  example 
of  a  civilized  and  Christian  people?"  .  .  .  After  an 
eloquent  and  manly  protest  against  the  late  out- 
rages, he  concludes  thus :  "  My  desire  is  that  we 
should  both  pray  to  God  that  this  consultation 
may  result  in  the  restoration  of  peace.  Such  are 
the  true  words  of  Moshesh." 

All  this  may  be  taken  as  a  sample  of  the  indi- 
rect effects  of  mission-labour  in  raising  the  mental 
tone  of  a  nation  and  its  rulers.  Moshesh  has  never 
professed  himself  a  Christian.  Perhaps  such  fla- 
grant inconsistencies  as  the  above  have  had  much 
to  do  in  preventing  his  coming  under  the  spiritual 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  447 

power  of  the  gospel,  and  opening  his  heart  as  well 
as  his  intellect  to  its  blessed  truth. 

And  so  it  may  be  seen  what  worthy  work  the 
Evangelical  Missionary  Society  of  Paris  has  done 
in  sending  forth  the  men  who  founded  the  Chris- 
tian religion  among  the  Basutos.  The  whole  nar- 
rative is  a  most  encouraging  page  in  the  moral 
history  of  South  Africa. 


CHAPTER   XL. 

AT   A    FORD. 

O"W,  whereas  there  are  no  bridges,  nor  river- 
steamers,  nor  ferry-boats  on  the  streams  of 
these  regions,  every  man  is  left  to  his  own 
devices  for  crossing  when  he  wants,  and 
such  scenes  as  the  following  are  by  no  means  un- 
common : 

First,  a  waiting  for  many  days  on  the  bank  until 
the  current  over  the  ford  gets  shallower,  and  his 
wagon  has  some  chance  of  rolling  along  on  the 
bottom  instead  of  being  carried  hither  and  thither 
by  force  of  the  stream.  He  drives  a  slip  of  wood 
into  the  sand  at  the  edge  of  the  water,  and  visits 
this  measurer  of  the  receding  flood  every  few  hours 
to  see  what  progress  the  reduction  is  making. 
Meanwhile,  some  of  the  fickle  rains  up  country 
may  derange  all  his  calculations  and  redouble  the 
opposing  flood  in  an  hour  or  two.  For  these 
mountains,  the  Malutis  range  and  its  spurs,  arrest 
all  the  clouds  floating  inward  from  the  Indian 

448 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  449 

Ocean  and  the  swamps  of  Mozambique,  condense 
rapidly  the  vapour,  and  discharge  it  in  torrents 
upon  the  sources  of  the  rivers.  A  thread-like 
stream  becomes  in  a  few  moments  a  sweeping 
deluge.  Down  among  the  lowlands  comes  an 
almost  wall  of  water,  widening  the  bed  of  the 
river  by  scores  of  yards  at  each  side,  until  all 
traces  of  ford  are  obliterated.  And  where  the 
bottom  happens  to  be  sand,  new  holes  are  scoured 
out  by  the  additional  strength  of  the  current,  which 
adds  to  the  uncertainty  of  the  whole  affair. 

Mr.  Owen  had  a  time  of  waiting  like  other 
wagon-travellers.  He  had  been  on  the  shores  of 
the  Ky  Gariep  (Orange  river)  where  it  was  a  mile 
broad,  and  so  its  present  magnitude,  much  nearer 
its  source,  seemed  nothing  formidable.  There 
dwelt  the  black  Korannas,  tribes  of  Hottentots, 
having  their  clicking  language  and  debasing  pecu- 
liarities of  habit.  Here  were  the  far  gentler  and 
more  intelligent  Basutos,  evidently  (and  according 
to  their  own  traditions)  belonging  to  a  superior 
and  conquering  race,  which  had  poured  from  the 
north-east  upon  the  lands  of  the  aborigines  and 
driven  them  from  the  most  fertile  portions.  All 
Caffre  and  Bechuana  tribes  hold  this  account  (/ 
their  origin,  and  though  the  African  physiognomy 

29 


450  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

is  marked  upon  them,  as  upon  all  the  descendants 
of  Ham,  it  is  not  exaggerated  into  animal  ugliness, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Hottentot. 

Xot  far  from  the  place  where  the  missionary  out- 
spanned  beneath  a  group  of  patriarchal  olive  trees, 
some  of  the  largest  that  he  saw  in  the  country — for 
the  periodical  burnings  of  the  high  grass  have  con- 
sumed most  of  the  timber — was  a  kraal  of  Basutos, 
a  circular  range  of  beehive  huts,  after  the  universal 
pattern  of  their  villages.  The  cattle-fold  in  the 
centre  was  placed  where  the  rays  of  the  rising  sun 
could  fall  on  their  flocks.  The  owners  believe  that 
in  this  is  some  special  virtue.  And  this  cattle-fold 
is  also,  as  in  Caffre  villages,  the  burial-ground — 
effaced,  trampled,  as  if  all  memory  of  the  dead 
would  fain  be  blotted  out.  Mr.  Owen  sought  con- 
versation with  the  inhabitants;  they  were  in  no 
wise  averse  to  it.  He  was  permitted  to  sit  in  the 
khotla,  or  public  enclosure  of  mimosa  boughs, 
where  the  business  of  the  community  was  trans- 
acted, and  the  chief  or  head  man  sent  him  a  jar 
of  curd  as  a  mark  of  civility. 

They  had  heard  of  the  white  teachers  up-country 
— some  had  even  spoken  with  them.  They  con- 
sidered the  account  of  the  creation  of  the  world  as 
very  strange.  Many  laughed  heartily  as  they  re- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  451 

capitulated  some  of  the  facts  heard  from  the 
French  missionaries. 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  such  fables  ?" '  they  asked 
one  another. 

"And  what,"  said  Kok,  the  interpreter,  "would 
you  say  made  the  world  ?" 

"  It  was  always  there.  We  know  not  how," 
they  answered,  using  the  expression  of  their  lan- 
guage which  signifies  to  exist  in  an  incomprehen- 
sible manner. 

"  My  sons,"  said  an  old  man,  whose  eyebrows 
were  getting  white  from  age,  producing  a  strange 
effect  on  his  dark  visage,  "  ye  are  but  young.  Ye 
never  have  asked  yourselves  whose  hands  hold  up 
the  sky?  Is  it  on  the  mountains  that  it  rests? 
Nay,  for  I  have  been  to  the  top  of  the  highest  and 
seen  the  blue  heaven  far  above.  And  whence  come 
the  clouds  that  burst  in  water  ?  Whence  comes  the 
lightning?  I  have  been  in  lands  where  the  Bush- 
man shoots  poisoned  arrows  at  it — lands  where  the 
earth  is  dust.  But  some  one  sends  the  lightning. 
Some  one  sends  the  rain.  Some  one  makes  the 
grain  of  corn  grow,  and  draws  out  of  it  the  long 
stalk  and  the  heavy  ear.  It  is  not  any  man  who 
does  these  things.  My  sons,  when  you  have  asked 
yourselves  such  sorrowful  questions,  you  will  not 


£52  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

laugh,  you  will  rather  weep  and  cover  your  faces 
with  your  hands." 

"But  I'say,"  observed  another,  "that  there  is 
a  strife  in  all  things — all  things  live.  Do  not  the 
clouds  and  the  wind  fight  and  roar  aloud  in  thun- 
der ?  Is  not  the  rain  driven  by  the  storm  and  the 
storm  quenched  by  the  rain  ?  Does  not  the  dark- 
ness pursue  the  light  always,  and  put  it  out,  and 
drive  down  the  sun  behind  the  hills  ?  Again  the 
light  gets  the  victory  and  we  have  another  day. 
So  the  world  goes  on — so  it  has  gone  on  always. 
Who  shall  say  that  ever  it  began  '  And  men  fight 
— the  tribes  kill  one  another.  You  who  are  old 
remember  Moselekatse  the  destroyer,  and  remem- 
ber the  cannibals.  There  is  war  everywhere: 
above,  around,  beneath.  Shall  it  ever  cease?  I 
say,  no!" 

Oh  how  did  Mr.  Owen  long  for  the  tongue  of 
the  eloquent,  that  he  might  speak  abundantly  of 
the  universal  Peacegiver  and  of  the  glorious  time 
coming,  when  the  strifes  of  earth  shall  be  quelled 
for  ever  under  the  reign  of  the  King  of  kings! 
But  through  the  cold  medium  of  an  interpreter  his 
earnest  words  chilled  and  broke  apart,  and  he  was 
conscious  how  powerless  was  his  effort  to  convey 
to  these  darkened  minds  some  sparks  of  the  glo- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  453 

rious  truth  which  filled  his  own  being  with  light 
and  joy. 

"  I  heard,"  said  Kok,  "  some  of  your  women 
chanting  over  the  dead  but  yesterday,  and  they 
said  in  their  song  such  words  as  these : 

'We  are  left  outside, 
We  are  left  for  trouble, 
We  are  left  for  tears ; 

Oh,  if  there  were  in  the  heavens  a  place  for  me  I 
Why  have  I  not  wings  to  fly  there  ? 
If  a  strong  cord  hung  down  from  the  sky, 
I  would  cling  to  it — I  would  go  up — 
I  would  go  and  dwell  there.' 

Now  why  sing  this  if  you  do  not  think  that  your 
breath  does  not  die — that  it  goes  and  lives  some- 
where else  ?" 

The  remark  seemed  to  put  the  listeners  in  a 
dilemma.  They  looked  at  one  another.  Perhaps 
they  never  before  had  considered  the  meaning  of 
their  own  funeral  song. 

"  It  comes  from  our  ancestors ;  the  people  who 
lived  long  ago  made  that  song.  We  know  not 
what  it  means,"  was  all  they  could  say. 

"  But  you  adore  the  dead ;  you  think  they  can 
do  you  harm,"  persevered  Kok.  "You  say  that 
a  shadow  remains ;  you  say  that  some  of  your  old 


454  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

men  have  seen  it ;  you  say  that  these  shadows  are 
in  the  bowels  of  the  earth." 

They  were  unprepared  for  this  accumulation  of 
evidence  against  them,  gathered  from  their  own 
scattered  superstitions. 

"  I  saw  the  same  dead  man  buried  yesterday," 
added  Kok — "  the  man  over  whom  that  song  was 
sung — and  you  sacrificed  an  ox  over  his  grave  in 
the  cattle-pen,  you  sprinkled  the  ground,  you  cried, 
'Repose  in  peace  with  the  gods.  Give  us  tranquil 
nights.'  Wherefore  this  if  you  do  not  believe  that 
he  is  living  still  ?" 

Mr.  Owen  preached  to  them  the  resurrection. 
As  always,  he  found  that  it  was  the  most  startling 
doctrine  to  these  heathen.  Every  man  get  his  own 
body  again !  every  man  answer  for  his  sins  before 
a  great  judgment-seat!  They  looked  at  one  an- 
other, quite  devoid  of  smiles  now,  evidently  con- 
sidering it  a  very  serious  business,  and,  if  true, 
dreadfully  important  in  its  bearing  on  the  affairs 
of  this  life. 

The  current  in  the  river  steadily  fell  for  the  few 
days  our  travellers  rested  on  the  bank,  and  at  last 
was  pronounced  fordable  by  a  committee  of  natives 
after  sundry  swimmings  and  divings  to  ascertain 
the  precise  state  of  the  bottom.  Much  of  the  goods 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  455 

were  brought  over  high  and  dry  on  pack-oxen,  for 
it  was  by  no  means  certain  that  anything  in  the 
wagon  would  traverse  the  stream  without  a  drench- 
ing. At  last  it  was  got  under  weigh,  the  span  of 
fourteen  oxen  drawing  as  usual.  When  the  fore- 
most touched  the  water  they  had  a  mind  to  stand 
still  permanently.  Jan's  huge  whip  cracked  its 
lash  of  twenty  feet  long  with  a  succession  of  pistol- 
like  reports  about  their  ears,  the  cattle-vachters 
laid  into  them  well  with  sjamboks  (whips  of  rhi- 
noceros hide  as  hard  as  canes),  the  fore-louper 
tugged,  all  the  natives  shouted,  and  after  some 
pretence  at  backing  among  the  twelve  behind,  the 
beasts  were  induced  to  enter  the  stream.  That  was 
one  great  difficulty  over.  Gilbert  had  been  assured 
that  the  water  was  but  five  feet  deep  in  the  centre 
of  the  ford,  but  the  oxen  seemed  to  consider  this 
perilous  and  stopped  short,  as  they  neared  the  mid- 
dle, in  order  to  bellow  most  lamentably.  A  num- 
ber of  Basutos,  swimming  alongside,  tried  to  keep 
the  animals  still,  used  the  sjamboks  energetically, 
dragged  the  thongs  that  led  the  foremost  pair,  but 
panic  had  come  and  the  oxen  could  neither  be 
cajoled  nor  lashed  into  advance.  They  got  en- 
tangled in  the  harness,  their  yokes  were  smashed, 
one  or  two  set  up  swimming  on  their  own  account, 


456  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

and  reached  an  islet  a  little  way  down  the  stream, 
and  Mr.  Owen,  watching  from  the  bank — he  had 
chosen  to  swim  across — saw  a  most  alarmingly 
confused  mass  of  long  horns  and  twisted  tails  aloft 
among  his  team,  with  his  wagon  rocking  hither 
and  thither  like  something  on  the  verge  of  wreck. 
How  extrication  was  accomplished  those  con- 
cerned in  the  exploit  could  scarce  tell ;  every  one 
had  done  his  best  in  the  way  of  shouting  and  lash- 
ing, and  so  all  came  safe  to  land  before  eventide. 
The  reward  for  all  the  labour  to  the  volunteers 
from  the  village — an  abundant  reward  they  thought 
it — was  a  handful  of  glass  beads  and  an  old  knife 
to  the  head  man.  With  which  treasures  all  swam 
across  again,  quite  happy  and  miserably  contented. 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

THE    GERM    OF     THE     STATION. 

HE  border-lands  of  British  territory  were 
by  no  means  in  a  quiet  state  at  this  period. 
A  new  governor  had  come  from  India, 
freshly  crowned  with  the  laurels  of  Aliwal 
and  nameless  other  fights,  and  was  expected  to 
crush  out  the  Caffre  war  immediately.  One  of  his 
steps  for  the  purpose  was  to  throw  the  mantle  of  a 
British  protectorate  over  the  Orange  River  Free 
State  and  over  Moshesh,  the  Basuto  monarch.  A 
moral  sovereignty  it  was  declared  to  be,  saving  all 
existing  rights  and  superseding  no  existing  au- 
thorities ;  but  the  protected  parties  were  not  well 
pleased,  nevertheless.  Sir  Harry  Smith's  successors 
relinquished  this  shadowy  power  in  1854. 

Colonel  Somerset  had  been  conducting  a  desul- 
tory war  in  Caffraria  during  the  year  1847.  People 
in  England  sometimes  imagine  that  these  conflicts^ 
occurring  almost  at  stated  intervals — 1819,  1834, 
1846,  1852— are  the  fault  of  the  colonists.  This 

457 


458  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

is  an  error.  The  settlers  in  the  main  behave  with 
justice  and  kindness  to  the  native  tribes,  but  the 
latter  require  the  stringent  hand  of  authority  as 
well  as  the  beneficent  hand  of  Christian  charity. 
Their  national  sin  of  cattle-stealing  is  indulged  on 
every  occasion  possible;  and  though  they  reckon 
housebreaking  disgraceful,  and  a  leather  thong  is 
generally  fastening  enough  to  secure  the  contents 
of  a  Caffre  hut,  no  disgrace  whatever  attaches  to 
the  "  lifting"  of  cattle.  Incessant  depredations 
have  always  preceded  the  taking  up  of  arms  by 
the  English — depredations  from  which  the  chiefs 
either  could  not  or  would  not  restrain  their  follow- 
ers, nor  give  redress. 

To  quote  from  a  competent  authority :  "  Sir  Pe- 
regrine Maitland,  governor  in  1846,  was  at  once  a 
devout  Christian  and  a  distinguished  soldier.  He 
was  so  greatly  influenced  by  humane  and  benevo- 
lent feelings  that  no  man  who  knew  him  can  doubt 
but  that  he  would  have  avoided  this  war  if  he  had 
seen  any  possibility  of  doing  so.  He  tried  by  ne- 
gotiation and  the  most  reasonable  proposals  to 
induce  the  chiefs  concerned  to  come  to  terms  and 
avoid  the  dread  alternative  of  war.  In  this  he 
utterly  failed,  simply  because  the  Caffres  had  been 
long  prepared  for  this  conflict,  and  had  formed  a 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  .  459 

strong  opinion  that  the  English  were  afraid  of 
them ;  and  that  as  they  had  during  the  last  ten 
years  provided  themselves  with  horses  and  fire- 
arms, they  would  now  be  a  match  for  the  troops, 
while  their  vast  superiority  of  numbers  would 
enable  them  '  to  drive  the  white  people  into  the 
sea.'  " 

In  this  desolating  war  the  value  of  the  property 
taken  and  destroyed  along  the  frontier  was  about 
half  a  million  sterling.  Makomo  and  Sandili  had 
some  time  before  the  close  of  1847  been  kept  as 
state  prisoners  at  a  British  fort,  but  Pato  still  held 
out,  and  it  was  impossible  to  prophesy  when  the 
savage  would  be  forced  to  lay  down  arms.  The 
surprise  was  a  pleasant  one  when  Colonel  Somerset 
received  a  message  one  day  in  December  from  a 
Caffre,  who  declared  that  he  was  Pato's  "  mouth," 
asking  for  terms  of  surrender. 

"  How  do  I  know  that  Pato  will  keep  his 
word  ?"  said  the  English  officer.  "  He  has  broken 
it  again  and  again." 

"I  am  Pato's  mouth,"  replied  the  envoy;  "I 
have  been  told  to  ride  and  find  Somerset  or  die." 

The  colonel  thought  it  best  to  give  no  promise 
till  the  chief  surrendered  at  discretion — likewise  all 
Caffre  weapons  wore  to  be  given  up.  Down  from 


460  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

the  hills  and  kloofs  hurried  troops  of  natives,  who 
had  been  hidden  among  the  crags  and  caverns, 
bringing  sheaves  of  assagais,  muskets,  bows  and 
arrows.  They  were  thoroughly  subdued.  Two 
days  afterward,  Pato  and  twelve  of  his  head  men 
approached  the  British  bivouac,  looking  abject  and 
miserable. 

"  I  am  no  longer  a  man,  but  a  baboon,"  said  the 
chief,  "for  I  have  been  dwelling  among  them  and 
have  been  hunted  from  rock  to  rock.  We  have 
eaten  our  shields  for  food.  Give  us  rest — give  us 
sleep." 

It  was  joyful  news  for  Caffraria  that  the  most 
noted  insurgent  had  given  himself  up.  Mr.  Owen 
heard  it  shortly  after  passing  the  Orange  river,  as 
described  in  the  last  chapter,  and  his  thoughts 
fixed  themselves  more  strongly  than  ever  upon  his 
projected  settlement  in  the  Fountain  Kloof. 

Gilbert  had  a  sort  of  a  log-book  of  his  own, 
wherein  he  noted  bearings  and  distances  during  his 
several  journeys,  in  a  manner  sufficiently  rough, 
but  practically  useful.  With  the  help  of  this 
record  and  a  map,  he  was  able  to  make  not  more 
than  one  or  two  mistakes  in  piloting  the  party  into 
the  very  gorge  leading  to  the  glen  which  Mr.  En- 
neld  had  named  as  above. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  461 

It  is  not  midsummer  now,  but  the  close  of  au- 
tumn, which  is  April  in  that  latitude;  and  so  the 
golden  flower-balls  do  not  glitter  in  the  mimosa 
foliage,  but  have  fallen  away  some  time  since,  and 
the  water-course  is  not  a  bare  stony  channel,  but 
has  a  rapid,  swirling  current  some  inches  deep. 
The  dark  green  gum  trees  have  not  changed  hue 
during  the  burning  months,  but  sweep  the  ground 
with  their  beautiful  foliage  still,  making  a  retreat 
of  delicious  darkness  in  the  cavity  of  their  great 
branches.  The  peach  and  fig  trees  are  laden  with 
their  own  luscious  fruit — such  as  the  birds  and 
baboons  have  spared  ;  vines  creeping  from  bough 
to  bough  hang  green  and  purple  grapes  in  festoons. 

"  I  tell  you,  sir,"  exclaimed  Gilbert,  in  high  de- 
light, "  here's  the  very  trace  of  our  old  camp ! 
Here's  the  very  place  I  was  mending  the  spokes. 
Why,  itrs  quite  a'most  like  comin'  home  again  ; 
and  it  does  so  remind  me  of  the  old  master !" 

""We  will  make  it  home,  with  God's  blessing," 
said  the  missionary ;  and  being  a  man  of  strong 
imagination — which  indeed  is  a  mental  quality 
commonly  attendant  upon  those  who  design  and 
execute  considerable  things  in  this  world — he  for  a 
few  minutes  indulged  in  a  day-dream,  during 
which  he  had  selected  the  site  of  his  village, 


462  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

founded  the  mission-house,  tilled  some  fields  and 
commenced  a  school  of  black  pupils,  adults  as  well 
as  children. 

But  where  were  these  future  scholars — the  raw 
human  material  for  his  projected  experiment  at 
civilization  ?  This  fountain  glen  was  promising  as 
a  site  for  the  station,  but  Mr.  Owen  wanted  to  cul- 
tivate something  else  than  soil,  and  to  stimulate 
the  growth  of  other  fruit  than  could  be  produced 
by  fields  and  vineyards.  He  recollected  how  the 
noble  Moravian  forerunner  of  missions — George 
Schmidt — had  been  able  to  induce  a  body  of  na- 
tives to  come  and  live  near  him  for  the  sake  more 
of  his  temporal  than  of  his  spiritual  instructions, 
Still,  that  was  a  point  gained.  The  multitude  who 
followed  once  for  the  sordid  reason  of  the  loaves 
received  the  far  more  valuable  gift  of  divine 
teaching. 

Mr.  Owen  was  walking  apart  from  the  scene  of 
the  outspanning,  full  of  these  thoughts  and  con- 
ceiving already  an  affection  for  the  place  which 
seemed  so  suited  to  his  purpose.  Raising  his  eyes 
to  an  overhanging  krantz  or  mass  of  crag,  where  a 
superb  tuft  of  crimson  gladiolus  waving  had  caught 
his  glance,  he  thought  he  saw  a  brown  human  face 
watching  him  close  to  an  angle  of  the  rock.  Si- 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  463 

lently  and  swiftly  was  it  withdrawn  when  his  eyes 
met  the  black  orbs  which  gazed  downward  —  so 
swiftly  and  silently  that  he  thought  a  minute  after- 
ward he  must  have  been  mistaken.  He  looked  for 
any  trace  of  path  to  the  crag ;  there  was  no  such 
thing.  He  made  a  path  for  himself,  clinging  to 
bushes  and  finding  footing  on  almost  imperceptible 
projections,  for  by  this  time  he  had  become  a  very 
expert  mountain  climber ;  but  when  he  reached 
the  tuft  of  gladiolus  and  the  cleft  where  he  had 
seen  the  face,  he  found  no  person  nor  mark  of  foot- 
steps. Perhaps  the  distance  had  deceived  him  as 
to  its  being  the  countenance  of  a  man  ;  perhaps  it 
was  only  that  of  a  prying  baboon.  And  so  he 
went  slowly  back  by  a  less  rocky  way,  meditating 
again  on  his  plans. 

The  tribes  through  the  country  had  been  thin- 
ned and  scared  by  the  war ;  he  feared  the  time  was 
not  favourable  for  commencing  missionary  opera- 
tions among  them.  And  yet  what  an  attraction 
ought  the  story  of  peace  to  exercise  on  their  war- 
worn hearts  ! 

The  fires  were  kindled  as  dusk  grew  on.  Gilbert 
was  superintending  the  cutting  up  of  a  certain 
quantity  of  dried  flesh  into  rations,  when  he  per- 
ceived a  strange  face  looking  over  the  shoulders  of 


464  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

the  waiting  retinue.  Now,  when  first  this  European 
had  come  to  the  country,  the  natives  seemed  to  him 
as  like  as  sheep ;  only  by  degrees  had  he  grown  tc 
distinguish  differences  of  physiognomy,  in  which 
he  was  now  expert,  of  course. 

"  What  do  you  want  ?"  In  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, the  stranger,  from  before  whom  the  other 
Caffres  fell  apart,  leaving  him  in  full  firelight, 
raised  his  lean,  bony  arm  and  said,  "  We  are  tired 
of  flight  and  of  hunger.  Give  us  flesh.  We  are 
killed  by  hunger."  And  his  eyes  wandered  with  a 
greedy  furtiveness  to  the  meat.  "  We  are  all  your 
children  ;  we  know  no  one  else." 

"  Look  here,"  said  Gilbert,  noticing  a  long  scar 
on  the  brown  bony  arm,  "you've  not  been  hiding 
without  cause.  I'm  certain  he's  been  in  the  wars, 
sir,"  he  added  to  Mr.  Owen,  who  came  up  to  the 
group  just  here,  attracted  by  the  slight  commo- 
tion. "And  are  there  many  more  of  you,  my 
friend?" 

The  man  was  trembling  violently;  he  thought 
he  had  fallen  immediately  into  the  power  of  the 
whites,  whom  he  believed  to  be  the  foes  of  every 
Caffre. 

"  My  brother,"  said  the  missionary,  laying  his 
hand  on  his  shoulder,  "  fear  not ;  we  are  men  of 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  465 

peace,  and  serve  the  great  God  of  heaven.  You 
may  rest  here  and  not  be  afraid." 

By  and  by,  when  receiving  his  share  of  the  dried 
meat,  the  stranger  proclaimed  his  gratitude  by  de- 
claring that  his  heart  was  sweet — his  heart  was 
white  as  milk ;  his  heart  had  gone  into  the  flesh 
for  which  he  longed.  Whether  this  last  was  what 
we  should  call  hunger  or  was  the  mere  carnivor- 
ousness  which  is  such  a  strong  impulse  in  South 
African  races,  the  white  men  could  not  decide,  but 
there  appeared  to  be  a  sufficiency  of  fruit  and  roots 
in  the  valley  to  save  a  whole  kraal  from  starva- 
tion. There  was  the  "elephant's  foot,"  a  huge 
bulbous  root  which  often  stands  entirely  out  of 
the  ground,  being  a  yard  in  diameter  and  with  a 
turnip-like  interior.  It  is  generally  called  the 
Hottentot's  bread,  from  its  extensive  use  by  that 
people.  There  were  kengwe  or  watermelons,  and 
bashoo  nuts,  which  are  delicious  when  roasted  in 
the  embers;  but  these  vegetable  productions  are 
not  welcome  as  substitutes  for  flesh  and  milk  to  an 
inveterately  carnivorous  nation. 

The  stray  Caffre  vanished  as  soon  as  his  portion 
was  consumed — wormed  himself  along  the  ground 
into  a  thicket  and  stole  away.  "  We'll  have  plenty 
of  'ATO  in  the  morning,  sir,  don't  fear,"  said  Gil- 

JO 


466  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

bert.  "  I  expect  there's  a  whole  village  of  em  in 
hiding  among  the  crags,  and  they'll  have  a  palaver 
to-night  over  our  politeness  to  that  one  who  ven- 
tured near  us ;  and  since  he  got  back  with  a  whole 
skin,  the  rest  will  sneak  down  too,  in  hopes  of  the 
same  hospitality." 

"  That  Caffre  had  all  the  shyness  of  a  Bush- 
man," remarked  Mr.  Owen. 

"  Because  he's  been  getting  the  treatment  of  one, 
sir,"  rejoined  Gilbert.  "  He's  been  robbed  and 
hunted.  He  tells  me  that  the  chief  Pato  sent  right 
and  left,  collecting  cattle  to  pay  down  that  tribute 
of  five  thousand  head  to  his  Excellency,  and  took 
'em  from  all  the  owners  without  saying  as  much  as 
'  By  your  leave.'  This  man's  couple  of  cows  went 
with  the  rest,  and  his  assagais  and  musket  were 
either  taken  or  given  up,  so  that  he  couldn't  kill 
anything  for  food.  That's  how  he  came  to  be  so 
hard  up,  poor  creature ;  and  I'm  sure  there's  more 
of  his  kind  in  the  same  lurch." 

Before  the  camp  was  stirring  next  morning  fur- 
tive faces  might  be  seen  peeping  at  it  from  the 
rocks  and  copses — faces  of  those  who  had  fled  up 
the  mountain  from  the  sight  of  the  wagon  the  day 
before,  thinking  it  contained  "  government  men." 
These  they  had  reason  to  fear  from  a  sense  of  past 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  467 

misdeeds.  Many  a  raid  had  they  committed  on 
an  outlying  farm,  carrying  off  the  settlers'  herds 
and  flocks,  which  ill-gotten  gains  had  the  pro- 
verbial fate  of  such. 

Thus  was  Mr.  Owen's  desire  for  a  congregation 
gratified.  It  was  not  difficult  to  persuade  these 
people  to  huild  their  beehive  huts  in  the  Fountain 
Kloof  and  set  up  a  village  under  a  sort  of  protec- 
torate from  the  white  man.  "  We  want  rest — we 
want  sleep,"  reiterated  he  who  seemed  to  be  their 
chief;  "  we  want  to  eat  without  flight."  The  mis- 
sionary assured  them  that  they  could  do  so  if  they 
would  only  stay  with  him,  and  so  they  removed 
from  the  caves  and  huts  in  clefts  of  rock  which 
had  been  their  dwellings  lately,  and  traced  out 
the  circular  kraal  and  nest  of  ant-hill  abodes 
which  are  the  sole  South  African  ideas  of  a 
town. 

The  missionary  desired  to  give  an  example  of 
his  very  opposite  ideas  about  building,  and  recall- 
ing his  former  experience  in  wattle-and-daub  erec- 
tions, he  chose  a  site  for  a  place  of  worship  and 
laid  its  foundations.  Advisedly  he  set  about 
making  a  house  for  sacred  purposes  before  he 
made  his  own,  wishing  to  impress  the  natives  with 
a  sense  of  the  far  greater  consequence  of  attend- 


468 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 


ance  to  religious  matters  than  to  those  merely  tem- 
poral. He  would  live  in  the  wagon  meanwhile, 
as  he  had  done  for  many  a  month ;  he  could  well 
bear  its  inconveniences  a  little  longer. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

GROWTH   OF   THE  MISSION-STATION. 

IMMEDIATELY  on  choosing  the  site  for 
the  school-house,  Mr.  Owen  set  up  daily 
<  public  worship.  The  horn  which  had  so 
long  blown  the  signals  of  outspanning  and 
inspanniug  was  now  employed  to  summon  the 
people  to  prayer,  and  at  first  every  one  within 
hearing  came.  Men,  women,  children,  all  crowded 
to  the  spot,  squatted  on  the  ground  in  their  fa- 
vourite posture,  and  listened  and  looked  on  at  this 
curious  ceremony  of  the  white  teacher's. 

Presently,  when  the  spell  of  curiosity  was  some- 
what weakened,  there  began  to  be  bustling  for 
places  and  whispering  during  the  very  prayers. 

"It  is  the  women,"  said  the  chief,  when  Mr. 
Owen  spoke  about  this.  "The  white  teachers 
ought  to  know  that  the  tongues  of  women  cannot 
be  governed." 

Nevertheless  the  chief  made  the  attempt,  for 
next  day  he  appeared  at  the  chapel  with  several 

469 


470  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

short  sticks  in  his  hand,  the  sight  of  which 
produced  much  orderliness,  until  some  unlucky 
woman's  combativeness  got  the  better  of  her  fears. 
On  the  sound  of  pushing  and  angry  interjection, 
the  chief  raised  himself,  flung  one  of  his  sticks 
with  accurate  aim  at  the  head  of  the  offender,  and 
coolly  sat  down  again,  looking  very  like  a  school- 
boy who  expected  praise. 

He  was  much  surprised  that  Mr.  Owen  did  not 
approve  of  the  procedure.  "Our  people  are  not 
like  whites;  our  people  want  much  beating,"  he 
affirmed.  "  I  get  my  sjambok  and  make  them 
believe  altogether;  they  believe  for  sjambok  !" 

This  energetic  mode  of  conversion  by  the  whip 
was  also  disapproved. 

"Our  people  never  believe  for  talk  —  never!" 
said  the  chief.  "  God  did  not  give  us  hearts  as  he 
gave  you.  He  loved  you  better.  He  made  white 
men  beautiful,  and  gave  you  coats  and  guns  and 
houses  and  wisdom.  We  have  nothing  but  as- 
sagais and  oxen — we  are  foolish.  God  has  not 
loved  us." 

And  then  did  the  missionary  gladly  tell  him  of 
the  great  love  to  all  men  which  brought  the  Son 
of  God  from  his  far  heaven  to  die  a  death  of  shame. 
It  was  painful  to  have  his  earnest  words,  hot  from 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  471 

his  heart,  fall  quenched  on  the  indurated  soul  of 
the  native  like  sparks  upon  water — he  listened 
with  respect,  that  was  all.  Mr.  Owen  could  not 
be  certain  that  he  quite  understood  him,  for  such 
is  the  debasement  of  intellect  caused  by  centuries 
of  animalism  that  it  oftentimes  fails  to  grasp  what 
seem  to  us  simple  ideas. 

"  Because  we  know  all  this,"  concluded  the  mis- 
sionary, "  therefore  are  white  men  so  clever  as  you 
see  them.  This  is  better  than  knowing  how  to 
build  houses  and  till  the  fields;  this  is  God's  great 
news,  which  he  sent  me  to  tell  you." 

"  But  all  white  men  don't  believe,"  reasoned  the 
native.  "  White  men  steal  and  cheat  black  men  ; 
we  do  the  same.  It  is  good  that  you  have  come. 
You  will  teach  us  to  be  like  the  white  men  who 
believe;  you  will  teach  us  to  make  wagons  and 
houses  and  to  worship  the  great  Morimo,  '  him 
who  is  above.'  " 

Now  Mr.  Owen  found,  here  as  elsewhere,  that 
he  must  begin  Christian  instruction  to  these  Caffres 
with  the  very  first  principles — the  existence  and 
attributes  of  Jehovah — his  justice,  his  abhorrence 
of  sin.  Why,  the  very  conscience  of  these  people 
had  to  be  made,  so  to  speak !  They  could  by  no 
means  recognize  the  iniquity  of  sundry  things  which 


472  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

are  evil.  The  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being  watching 
all  their  actions  and  weighing  their  motives  ap- 
peared incredible.  Up  and  down  about  the  shining 
heavens  and  the  green  earth  would  the  Caffre  look 
who  heard  this  astonishing  truth  for  the  first  time: 
"I  don't  see  him;  my  eyes  cannot  find  him  out; 
how  then  can  he  see  me  ?" 

That  pre-eminently  missionary  book,  "  The  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,"  was  Mr.  Owen's  continual  referee 
at  this  stage  of  his  experience.  He  found  there 
discourses  addressed  to  every  species  of  unbeliever, 
from  the  Jew  to  the  pagan  philosopher,  the  poly- 
theist,  and  even  the  atheist.  Paul  upon  Mars'  Hill 
be"gan  his  sermon  by  declaring  unto  the  Athenian 
idolaters,  the  unknown  God.  After  he  had  pre- 
pared their  minds  thus,  he  introduced  to  them 
Jesus  and  the  resurrection.  Again,  at  Lystra,  he 
preached  to  the  heathen  that  they  "  should  turn 
from  these  vanities  unto  the  living  God,  which 
made  heaven,  and  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  all  things 
that  are  therein."  There  was  no  actual  idolatry  to 
be  broken  down  among  these  Caifres,  for  they  were 
without  deity,  temple  or  priesthood,  but  there  was 
a  mass  of  superstition  overlying  every  faculty — a 
besotted  stupor  that  seemed  to  deaden  all  that  was 
immortal  in  them. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  473 

The  missionary  found  out,  years  afterward,  that 
many  of  these  poor  hearers  had  begun  to  pray  as 
soon  as  they  comprehended  the  existence  of  the 
great  God.  They  would  pray  when  frightened  by 
sickness  or  loneliness  or  a  tempest,  grasping  the 
mighty  fact  of  an  overruling  Providence  as  some- 
thing needed  to  supply  a  void  in  their  natures; 
for  all  men  have  a  necessity  of  praying  at  one 
time  or  another. 

The  other  chief  instrumentality  for  doing  good 
to  the  natives  was  the  school.  Here  even  the  head 
man  himself  sat  on  the  ground  as  a  learner,  and 
his  example  made  the  movement  fashionable.  For 
three  hours  each  noon,  Mr.  Owen  and  Gilbert,  lay- 
ing aside  hammer  and  apron,  toiled  at  the  far 
harder  labour  of  impressing  the  native  memory 
with  verses  of  Scripture,  with  the  shapes  and 
groupings  of  letters.  Sackaboni  was  also  trusted 
with  a  class  of  old  people,  to  whom  his  reading 
seemed  a  matter  most  marvellous  and  inscrutable. 
It  was  not  at  all  believed  at  first,  until  Mr.  Owen, 
to  put  the  fact  to  proof,  asked  the  chief  to  whisper 
him  some  words,  which  he  then  wrote  upon  the 
sand  with  a  stick,  and,  calling  the  Caffre  lad  from 
a  distance,  showed  him  the  inscription.  Sackaboni 
read  it  aloud.  Again  and  again  was  the  experi- 


474  SHE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

ment  repeated  in  various  ways,  until  the  by- 
standers were  satisfied  that  the  marvel  was  true 
that  one  of  their  own  race  was  "  able  to  make  the 
paper  speak !" 

"  It  is  some  great  medicine  the  white  teacher  has 
given  him,"  was  a  pretty  general  conclusion.  No 
explanation  could  make  the  thing  intelligible. 
Supernatural  to  them  seemed  the  fact  that  any 
man  could  see  in  a  book  things  that  had  occurred 
formerly — that  words,  the  utterance  of  the  Jips, 
mere  air,  could  become  visible. 

A  tremendous  sensation  was  caused  by  the  first 
effort  at  reading  on  the  part  of  one  of  the  new 
scholars.  He  turned  over  some  pages  of  his  primer 
accidentally  and  found  that  he  could  actually  read 
seven  or  eight  words  in  succession,  making  a  short 
sentence,  which  he  had  never  seen  before.  With 
a  bound  he  sprang  to  his  feet  and  shouted,  much 
as  did  Archimedes  at  his  discovery,  "  I  have  found 
the  charm — I  have  found  the  charm  !"  Herschel 
was  not  prouder  of  his  new  planet,  Uranus.  Again 
and  again  the  young  man  read  the  few  words  which 
had  revealed  to  him  what  may  well  be  called  the 
possession  of  a  new  sense.  The  village  gathered 
round  him ;  he  was  the  hero  of  the  day.  The 
diviner,  consulted  on  the  occasion,  said  that  the 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  475 

white  teacher  was  doubtless  also  a  great  sorcerer, 
and  had  transformed  the  young  man's  heart.  But 
from  that  time  the  progress  of  the  scholars  was 
almost  doubled,  for  they  learned  in  something  more 
than  a  merely  mechanical  way. 

A  large  breadth  of  ground  was  very  speedily 
cleared  by  the  natives,  some  of  the  men  gallantly 
getting  over  their  prejudice  to  labour  under  the 
example  of  the  white  teachers.  As  at  Tabor,  Mr. 
Owen  found  that  the  missionary  has  to  be  many 
tilings  besides  a  mere  preacher.  Civilization  must 
go  hand  in  hand  with  the  gospel,  and  he  must  be 
qualified  —  in  order  to  be  useful  in  the  highest 
degree — to  give  lessons  in  various  needful  arts  as 
well  as  in  the  grand  science  of  religion.  James 
Gilbert  proved  an  invaluable  assistant  now;  his 
manual  ability,  his  sound,  cheery  spirit,  were  most 
helpful. 

They  were  farmers,  bricklayers  after  being  brick- 
makers,  carpenters,  painters,  all  in  turn  for  the 
next  year  or  so.  Continually  growing  in  the  re- 
spect of  the  natives  by  the  exercise  of  their  handi- 
works, such  tangible  evidence  of  superiority  ex- 
torted the  mental  submission  of  the  proudest  Caffre. 
Not  but  the  spectators  became  clever  enough  to  be 
critics  long  before  any  of  them  could  handle  a  tool 


476  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

decently,  and  often  did  Mr.  Owen  turn  the  laugh 
against  such  by  asking  them  to  try  and  do  what- 
ever he  happened  to  be  about,  when  the  ludicrous 
failure  of  the  attempt  immensely  tickled  the  fancy 
of  the  lookers-on.  And  none  but  those  who  have 
attempted  the  enterprise  know  the  vast  amount  of 
manual  toil  that  is  comprised  in  the  building  of 
the  smallest  house.  The  natives  could  be  of  no 
help  except  in  unskilled  labour.  As  a  traveller 
has  remarked  of  them,  they  have  a  strange  inability 
to  make  or  place  things  square.  Roundness  ap- 
pears the  fixed  idea  of  form  in  their  brains ;  con- 
sequently every  stick  and  stone  of  a  European 
dwelling  must  be  set  straight  and  even  by  the  Eu- 
ropean's own  hand. 

Did  Mr.  Owen  ever  regret  his  learned  ease  ?  If 
at  times  any  qualms  of  the  sort  came  over  him,  they 
were  quickly  stilled  when  he  could  get  into  his 
own  proper  work  —  sowing  the  seed  of  salvation. 
He  thought  he  could  detect  a  softening  of  the  soil 
in  some  hearts.  No  opportunity  of  speaking  the 
words  of  life  did  he  knowingly  forego;  in  all 
places  and  all  employments  he  bore  about  his  mes- 
sage with  him,  believing  that  no  time  can  be  out 
of  season  for  that  planting  of  truth. 

Another  branch   of  employment   was  attending 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  477 

to  the  sick  in  the  kraal,  when  the  missionary 
gained  most  precious  opportunities  for  influencing 
the  minds  of  those  about  the  invalid.  Healing  for 
the  body  might,  with  God's  blessing,  involve  heal- 
ing for  more  than  one  soul.  But  he  met  with 
rebuffs  occasionally.  An  old  man  told  him  to  send 
for  his  father,  the  white  teacher  was  too  young  to 
teach  him.  "  Look  at  my  gray  hairs.  You  cannot 
be  my  master;  your  fathers  from  over  the  blue 
water  might  be  my  masters.  Go  away — the  aged 
should  teach  the  aged."  He  wrapped  himself  in 
his  skin-mantle  and  turned  aside.  But  Mr.  Owen's 
gentle  assiduity  did  not  let  him  remain  thus ;  again 
and  again  he  visited  the  old  Caffre,  ministering  to 
the  relief  of  his  infirmities.  He  knew  how  valu- 
able is  the  smallest  act  of  kindness  as  winning  a 
way  for  the  reception  of  the  gospel.  He  had  more 
than  a  listener  at  last  in  his  poor  old  patient.  One 
day  he  had  the  joy  of  hearing  him  ask,  "  Can  Je- 
hovah pardon  so  great  a  sinner  as  I  am  ?" 

It  is  no  stigma  on  the  missionary's  manhood  to 
acknowledge  that  emotion  almost  choked  his  utter- 
ance for  a  moment  and  tears  rushed  to  his  eyes. 
What !  was  his  God  about  to  grant  him  the  greatest 
earthly  joy — leading  a  soul  to  the  forgiveness  of 
Jesus  Christ? 


478  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

"  I  have  long  denied  God,"  said  the  old  man  ; 
"  now  I  feel  him.  I  am  afraid.  Now  I  know  that 
I  am  the  greatest  of  sinners." 

Conscience  was  aroused  from  her  sleep  of  per- 
haps eighty  years'  duration.  What  eagerness  he 
had  to  learn  more  about  Jesus  Christ !  How 
simply  he  took  the  truth  of  substitution  to  his 
heart!  He  was  the  earliest  convert  at  Fountain 
Kloof,  and  his  baptism  was  an  era  in  the  mission 
and  in  the  missionary's  life. 

It  seemed  as  if  this  event  had  broken  the  ice. 
Seriousness  deepened  henceforth  among  the  listen- 
ers— tears  might  sometimes  be  seen!  The  old 
man  was  full  of  joy,  and  spoke  of  his  new-found 
treasure  of  pardon  to  every  one.  "  My  soul  is 
white,"  he  would  say.  "  I  am  going  to  live  up  in 
the  sky  for  ever." 

Since  the  kraal  grew  prosperous,  other  native!: 
had  joined  themselves  to  it,  and  thus  augmented 
the  number  brought  under  Christian  influences 
while  augmenting  the  mass  of  heathenism.  Mr. 
Owen  had  cause  to  be  glad  that  he  had  so  im- 
mediately built  the  chapel,  instead  of  using  the 
circle  of  the  cattle-fold  for  his  meetings,  because 
the  associations  of  the  kraal  were  so  unfavourable 
to  worship.  The  favourite  evening  amusement 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  479 

was  dancing  on  moonlight  nights;  dances  of  no 
refined  nature,  as  may  be  guessed.  Their  music 
was  a  sort  of  tambourine,  formed  of  a  skin  stretched 
tightly  over  a  calabash,  and  the  national  tumo  or 
tumbo — a  curved  bow  passed  through  a  calabash, 
and  with  a  cord  connecting  the  ends,  which  is 
shortened  by  the  pressure  of  the  finger  at  distances, 
so  as  to  produce  different  tones  on  being  touched 
by  a  wand.  These  regulate  the  quieter  dances, 
but  as  for  those  performed  by  men  only,  the  war- 
song  is  their  music.  Often  were  the  white  men 
waked  and  kept  awake  for  hours  at  night  by  the 
loud,  discordant  shouts,  the  tumultuous  sounds  of 
clapping  and  stamping,  which  showed  that  the 
kraal  was  holding  one  of  such  orgies. 

Now  the  teaching  of  the  children  did  somewhat 
toward  putting  down  quietly  these  displays  of 
savage  energy.  The  parents  did  not  care  to  show 
themselves,  by  and  by,  in  such  an  undignified 
manner  to  these  sons  and  daughters  who  were 
growing  so  wise  under  the  teaching  of  the  white 
man.  Public  opinion  slowly  veered  round  against 
the  old  customs — an  insensible  influence  of  the 
Christianity  near  by  keeping  in  check  the  demon- 
strations of  heathenism. 

And  so  the  light  was  spreading.     The  desire 


480  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

to  be  like  the  powerful  white  men,  who  were  so 
learned  and  so  clever,  stirred  up  the  youth  of  the 
kraal  especially  to  seek  after  secular  knowledge, 
and  in  so  doing  the  divine  knowledge  came  to 
more  than  one,  and  temporal  improvement  to  all. 

But  a  grave  objection  was  sometimes  urged 
against  Mr.  Owen  and  his  colleague  the  carpenter. 
What  guarantee  had  the  natives  that  they  would 
stay  among  them  ?  They  would  certainly  be  going 
home  some  day  to  settle  down.  It  was  not  to  be 
thought  of  that  they  should  he  all  their  lives  un- 
married. Various  interpretations  of  the  fact  that 
ohe  white  men  were  even  so  long  without  wives 
passed  current  among  the  villagers.  They  had  not 
cattle  enough  to  pay  the  required  price,  said  the 
most  ignorant.  They  are  curious  and  of  a  roving 
disposition,  said  others.  "  They  will  be  satisfied 
some  day  and  go  home  to  the  bead  country.  Of 
what  use  is  it  to  listen  to  what  they  teach  us, 
therefore?" 

The  helpmeet,  expedient  even  in  Paradise,  is 
needful  for  the  missionary,  as  well  to  do  much 
work  which  he  cannot  do  and  to  show  living  Chris- 
tianity in  a  woman's  form,  as  to  halve  his  sorrows 
and  double  his  joys. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

AFTER     MANY    DAYS. 

[T  would  be  impossible  for  us  to  trace  mi- 
nutely the  gradual  progress  of  the  settle- 
ment thus  formed  in  the  Fountain  Glen. 
Such  a  history  would  be  worth  chronicling, 
and  would  be  full  of  lessons  to  other  labourers  in 
similar  fields.  We  may  imagine  with  what  intense 
interest  these  white  men  watched  each  step  in  ad- 
vance from  barbarism  to  civilization,  from  heathen- 
ism toward  Christianity — each  acre  added  from 
the  uncultivated  wilderness  to  the  fruitful  gardens, 
each  cornered  cot^ge  set  up  instead  of  a  Caffre 
beehive,  each  newly-clothed  and  self-respecting 
native,  each  child  and  adult  who  mastered  the 
mysteries  of  the  alphabet — above  all,  each  soul 
which  showed  any  symptoms  of  religious  quick- 
ening. 

Many  of  these  last  never  went  farther  than  tears 
for  their  sins — tears  which  by  no  means  denoted 
real  repentance,  but  rather  a  vague  fright  at  couse- 

31  481 


482  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

quences.  If  they  had  been  bid  to  do  some  great 
thing,  would  they  not  have  done  it?  But  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  gospel  of  Christ  was  to  them  foolish- 
ness. Some  passed  from  tears  to  terror,  and  could 
not  be  comforted,  so  vividly  did  divine  grace  show 
them  their  transgressions  and  their  deservings  of 
eternal  wrath.  Like  the  aged  sinner  of  whom 
Moffat  tells,  who  had  been  so  bitter  an  opponent 
of  the  white  man's  religion  as  to  hate  the  very 
sight  of  the  place  of  worship,  and  to  teach  many 
to  blaspheme,  yet  when  the  arrows  of  conviction 
pierced  her  spirit  through  the  mercy  of  God,  she 
came  to  the  missionary,  crying  out,  "  My  sins  ! 
my  sins !"  tears  streaming  down  her  furrowed 
cheeks.  "  I  cannot  live — I  cannot  die  !'  she  ex- 
claimed, after  weeks  of  misery.  "You  say  the 
blood  of  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sins,  hut  do  you 
know  the  number  of  mine?%  Look  to  yonder 
grassy  plain  and  count  the  blades  of  grass  or  the 
drops  of  dew :  these  are  nothing  to  the  amount  of 
my  transgressions."  At  last  the  Lord  Jesus  gave 
her  of  his  peace,  "  and  the  being  who  once  perse- 
cuted and  cursed  all  who  bore  the  Christian  name, 
who  was  a  mass  of  filth,  which  had  given  to  her 
haggard  and  aged  form  an  unearthly  look,  was 
found  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  clothed  and  in 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  483 

her  right  mind,  adoring  the  riches  of  divine  grace 
to  one  who  was,  as  she  would  describe  herself,  the 
very  mire  of  the  street.  The  subject  of  divine 
mercy  and  love  so  completely  absorbed  all  the 
powers  of  her  mind  that,  when  visited  in  seasons 
of  affliction,  it  was  difficult  to  elicit  anything  about 
her  disease,  for  if  her  answer  commenced  in  (he 
flesh  it  was  certain  to  end  in  the  spirit.  When  sub- 
scriptions were  making  for  the  Auxiliary  Mission- 
ary Society,  she  one  day  brought  in  her  hand  her 
mite  —  a  pumpkin.  Her  soul  seemed  to  molt 
within  her  as  she  asked,  '  Who  is  so  great  a  debtor 
to  the  Saviour  as  I  am  ?  Is  it  too  small  ?  I  will 
go  and  borrow  another.'  It  was  verily  the  widow's 
mite."  Ah !  if  all  Christians  in  these  favoured 
lands  felt  thus  toward  the  mission  cause,  how 
quickly  would  the  gospel  travel  through  the  globe 
on  the  wings  of  faith  and  prayer  ! 

Even  similar  conversions  to  this  one  were  our 
labourers  privileged  to  behold  at  the  Fountain 
Kloof,  and  in  the  very  least  of  such  they  had  re- 
ward sufficient  for  all  their  toil  and  self-denial. 

They  had  disappointments  also  at  times — disap- 
pointment in  the  children  of  their  schools,  in  the 
parents  at  worship  and  in  social  life.  A  man 
would  go  on  well  till  some  great  temptation  came 


484  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

suited  to  the  sensuous  heathen  nature,  aiid  then 
the  righteousness  of  months  would  break  down 
utterly.  The  total  inefficiency  of  morality,  unless 
sustained  by  the  great  spiritual  change,  was  again 
and  again  demonstrated. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  hindrance  to  the  exertions 
made  for  the  benefit  of  the  natives,  socially  and 
religiously,  was  the  custom  of  polygamy  and  of 
buying  wives.  Where  woman  is  degraded  there 
is  not  much  hope  of  man's  elevation ;  and  the 
Caffre  women  themselves  support  the  custom  and 
are  pleased  to  be  bought  and  sold  like  cattle. 
They  resent  any  interference  with  what  they  re- 
gard as  a  vested  right.  An  ingenious  argument 
of  a  native  evangelist  on  the  subject  is  recorded  by 
the  civil  commissioner  of  Victoria :  "  You  destroy 
our  customs,"  said  the  Caffres  to  him.  "  Why  do 
you  not  pay  for  your  wives  and  take  cattle  for 
your  daughters  as  you  used  to  do  ?"  He  replied, 
"  Because  it  is  the  law  of  God.  We  may  not  buy 
a  person  as  we  buy  a  thing."  "  But,"  said  the  po- 
lygamist,  "the  girl  is  our  blood;  she  has  eaten  oui 
food — she  is  ours  :  it  is  right  that  we  should  gel, 
something  when  we  give  her  to  another  person." 
The  evangelist  answered,  "  No ;  she  is  your  child, 
and  it  was  your  duty  to  give  her  food  and  clothing 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  485 

and  to  help  her;  but  you  may  not  sell  her — you 
may  not  sell  or  buy  a  person,  for  a  person  has  a 
soul.  Your  daughter  also  has  already  assisted  you 
in  your  work."  Holding  up  the  Bible,  he  added, 
"  Here  is  our  law — this  is  God's  word.  We  read 
here  that  God  gave  Eve  to  Adam  without  any- 
thing; we  don't  see  either  cattle  or  money  spoken 
of.  Adam  did  not  give  cattle — Adam  did  not  buy 
Eve.  That  was  the  beginning — that  was  God's 
plan ;  it  is  our  law — it  is  a  law  for  all." 

Mr.  Oweu  soon  came  to  see  that  the  moral  ele- 
vation of  the  native  woman  was  the  .only  cure  for 
this  crying  evil.  In  many  a  mission-station  have 
been  found  Caffre  women  under  the  indirect  influ- 
ences of  the  gospel  who  have  attained  such  self- 
respect  as  to  refuse  to  be  sold.  Now,  it  is  a  fact 
that  in  Caffre  families  a  number  of  daughters  is 
considered  wealth,  for  each  is  worth  so  many  cows. 
The  brothers  have  their  sisters  allotted  among 
them  as  pieces  of  property.  When  a  suitor  comes, 
he  must  be  prepared  to  pay  sixteen  cows,  or  there- 
abouts, to  the  woman's  nearest  relative  and  guar- 
dian. As  soon  as  the  marriage  is  thus  compassed, 
the  husband  begins  to  be  an  idle  man ;  the  wife 
does  all  the  drudgery,  cultivates  the  ground,  builds 
the  hut  and  proceeds  to  acquire  more  cattle,  which 


486  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

will  in  due  time  be  paid  away  for  another  wife,  who 
will  be  compelled  to  work  in  the  same  manner. 
"  The  consequence  is,  that  fathers  and  brothers  are 
constantly  on  the  watch  to  prevent  daughters  and 
sisters  from  coming  under  the  influence  of  the 
word  of  God,  as  thereby  obstacles  rise  up  in  the 
way  of  their  selfish  expectations." 

Now,  there  is  no  agency  calculated  to  work  so 
well  upon  native  females  as  intercourse  with  re- 
fined and  pious  European  women.  Mr.  Owen 
found  his  efforts  crippled  for  want  of  some  woman 
teacher,  who  .should  set  before  the  eyes  of  the  hea- 
then the  purity  and  piety  of  Christian  life  in  the 
female  form.  He  sometimes  was  able  to  see  what 
Mrs.  Mason  had  done  at  Tabor.  Her  classes  and 
sewing-school  waked  a  sort  of  envy  in  his  breast, 
for  Tabor  Station  had  been  resuscitated  on  another 
site  after  the  storm  of  war  had  passed  by.  Li- 
katlo  the  chief  had  brought  back  the  thinned  and 
impoverished  ranks  of  his  people  to  the  old  locali- 
ties, and  as  a  Caffre  kraal  is  almost  as  movable  as 
a  Bedouin  encampment,  he  had  travelled  with  his 
herds  in  various  directions  till  at  last  they  settled 
not  very  far — as  distances  are  in  South  Africa — 
from  the  Fountain  Kloof.  The  former  labourers 
returned,  at  the  request  of  chief  and  people,  and 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  487 

began  anew  their  work  on  the  shifting  sand  of  na- 
tive habits  and  hearts. 

The  old  foundation  laid  in  other  days  had  not 
perished.  No  work  done  in  righteousness  ever 
does  perish.  The  aged  disciples,  Hintsa  and 
Kama's  mother,  had  been  gathered  to  their  rest  in 
the  interval,  and  the  missionary  knew  that  they 
would  form  stars  in  his  crown  of  rejoicing  at  the 
appearing  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

The  convert  Kama  seemed  to  have  lived  with  a 
wonderful  degree  of  consistency,  when  it  was  con- 
sidered that  he  had  no  minister  to  advise  him  and 
no  open  Bible  to  be  his  guide.  He  welcomed  back 
the  teachers  with  tears  of  joy.  He  was  foremost 
in  helping  to  build  their  house  and  the  chapel  for 
the  village,  which  ought  always  to  be  one  of  the 
earliest  enterprises  of  a  missionary,  for  until  such 
a  stand-point  is  established  the  natives  are  apt  to 
think  their  teacher  will  be  but  temporary,  and  con- 
sequently the  fluctuating  population  will  not  fix. 
Nothing  can  be  done  in  the  way  of  permanent  im- 
provement till  it  does  fix.  The  continual  wander- 
ings in  search  of  pasture,  or  in  order  to  hunt  game 
or  gather  roots,  reduce  the  Caffre  of  the  veldt  to 
wellnigh  the  intellectual  range  of  his  own  indige- 
nous herds  of  blesboks  ani  gnus.  Civilization  and 


488  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

the  gospel  must  go  hand  in  hand  for  the  regenera- 
tion of  men,  as  they  are  double  beings,  and  as  their 
lives  bear  aspect  toward  this  world  and  the  world 

to  come. 

***** 

Thus  the  Fountain  Kloof  is  no  longer  the  beau- 
tiful solitude  that  the  sportsman  beheld  it  years  ago. 
"  A  perfect  carpet  of  flowers"  spreads  not  under 
foot :  man's  cultivation  has  broken  up  the  earth  for 
things  more  necessary  than  flowers.  Nor  are  Caifre 
meal ie-gard ens  the  only  culture — various  European 
cereals  and  vegetables  fill  the  fields  around  the 
settlement.  The  "abundant  water-spring"  does 
something  more  profitable  than  conduce  to  the 
flourishing  of  thickets — it  is  led  out  in  irrigation 
to  such  lands  as  seem  to  want  it. 

The  prettiest  spot  in  the  valley  is  occupied  by 
the  long,  low  cottage  of  the  missionary,  which  is 
fronted  by  a  covered  verandah,  all  veiled  in  vine- 
leaves.  A  hedge  of  quince  surrounds  the  little 
garden  in  front — a  garden  full  of  the  greenhouse 
flowers  of  Europe.  Vines  climb  trellis-work 
among  the  blooming  beds  and  show  clusters  of 
ripening  grapes.  A  water-course  at  the  bottom 
of  the  garden  is  fringed  with  beautiful  drooping 
willows. 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  489 

A  lady  is  sitting  in  the  verandah,  looking  out 
over  the  quiet  scene.  A  book  in  her  lap  is  the 
Caffre  Bible,  which  she  daily  studies  in  order  to 
perfect  herself  in  the  language.  The  pages  have 
the  marks  of  much  reading  which  individualize 
the  English  Bibles  of  home.  Into  many  a  native 
hut  has  the  sacred  book  been  borne,  and  its  truths 
poured  into  the  ears  of  many  a  native  woman  by 
this  other  woman,  who  was  able  from  her  own  ex- 
perience to  tell,  and  in  her  own  person  to  show, 
what  the  gospel  of  Christ  could  do  for  the  regene- 
ration and  elevation  of  their  sex.  Those  Caffre 
women  would  not  listen  to  the  teaching  of  her 
husband,  and  only  laughed  at  his  invitations  to 
the  house  of  worship ;  but  the  white  lady  sat  down 
beside  them  and  participated  in  their  joys  and 
griefs  as  only  a  woman  could,  taught  them  about 
their  own  and  their  children's  health — lore  picked 
up  from  Philip — and  appealed  to  the  immortal 
part  through  the  mortal.  She  set  up  a  sewing 
class  and  an  alphabet  class,  and  soon  found  her 
hands  full  of  work — her  own  proper  work  among 
the  women  of  the  community — work  which  the 
missionary  never  could  do,  but  which  was  the  ne- 
cessary supplement  and  complementary  part  of  his. 

She  had  left  her  own  country  and  luxurious  life 


490  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

among  her  English  friends  when  he  had  gone  to 
her  and  asked  her  to  help  him  thus.  He  disguised 
nothing  from  her  of  the  manner  in  which  they 
should  live  and  labour,  and  she  accepted  to  the 
full  the  place  of  his  "  help-meet,"  willing  that  he 
should  have  no  toil  and  no  care  which  she  did  not 
share — nay,  counting  it  her  highest  earthly  duty 
and  glory  to  aid  him  in  all  things  and  bear  a  por- 
tion of  his  burdens,  whatever  his  God  should  lay 
upon  him  to  do  or  to  endure.  She  believed  that 
nothing  less  was  summed  up  in  that  earliest  and 
most  honourable  of  names  given  to  the  woman — 
the  "  help-meet"  of  man. 

Mr.  Owen  came  up  the  garden  walk  now,  lifting 
off  his  broad-leaved  hat  for  coolness ;  his  wife  laid 
down  the  Caffre  Bible  and  went  to  meet  him. 
They  had  seen  but  little  of  each  other  since  early 
morning,  for  the  demands  on  their  time  were  in- 
cessant. The  girls'  school,  the  infant  school,  the 
sewing  class,  visiting  some  sick  women,  had  em- 
ployed her  fully;  while  he,  after  the  religious  ser- 
vice in  the  school-house,  had  taught  an  adult 
school,  leaving  Gilbert  to  manage  that  of  the  boys, 
and  a  secular  class  after  it  for  the  teaching  of  the 
rudiments  of  trades.  Then  the  minister  held  a 
meeting  for  inquirers,  saw  various  sick  persons, 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  491 

had  a  conference  with  Likatlo  the  chief  on  certain 
points  of  magistracy  and  domestic  government  of 
the  village.  "  Ourselves  your  servants  for  Christ's 
sake"  was  the  motto  on  which  this  Christian  pair 
acted  as  the  rule  of  their  lives,  and  "  hour  after 
hour  was  filled  with  blessed  toil,"  such  as  prepares 
the  way  for  the  harvests  of  eternity. 

But  though  "blessed,"  still  it  had  all  the  fa- 
tiguing elements  of  "  toil,"  and  Philip  Owen  was 
weary  enough  as  he  sat  down  in  the  verandah  to 
rest  and  to  speak  over  various  ineideats  of  the  day 
with  the  dear  wife,  who  shook  off  her  own  tired- 
ness in  order  to  lighten  his. 

"  I  was  so  pleased  with  Kama  to-day,"  he  told 
her.  "  I  overheard  him  talking  to  a  group  of  men 
at  the  cattle-fold,  and  really  his  parables  were 
marvellous.  Concerning  the  building  up  of 
Christ's  Church,  he  used  this  similitude :  Suppose 
a  bird  making  a  nest,  adding  twig  to  twig  and 
feather  to  feather,  bringing  some  of  them  from  a 
very  far  distance,  so  the  Son  of  the  Highest  gradu- 
ally builds  his  Church,  gathering  in  by  his  Spirit 
the  materials  from  all  nations.  Was  it  not  an  ex- 
cellent comparison  for  an  untutored  mind  ?" 

"Kama  will  make  a  catechist  some  day,"  re- 
marked the  missionary's  wife.  "  He  has  been 


492  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

singularly  consistent  and  upright,  and  seems  intel- 
ligent enough." 

"  And  how  did  your  sewing  class  get  on,  Mar- 
garet ?" 

"  Oh,  very  well.  You  know  admission  to  it  is 
a  reward  for  good  conduct,  and  since  this  has  been 
made  the  rule  I  am  rather  embarrassed  by  the 
number  of  applicants  whom  it  is  impossible  to  re- 
ject, because  they  can  point  to  unimpeachable 
behaviour  in  the  reading  school.  The  great  diffi- 
culty with  the  new-comers  is  for  them  to  feel  the 
needle  between  their  fingers  at  all." 

"  Their  hands  get  so  hard  from  the  mattock  and 
hoe,"  observed  Mr.  Owen.  "  "Well,  I  am  happy 
to  perceive  that  the  prejudice  against  men's  labour 
is  breaking  down.  I  saw  several  at  work  in  their 
mealie-gardens  to-day  who  have  made  it  quite  a 
habit  for  some  time  back." 

"  I  gave  a  thimble  as  a  reward  to  a  girl  this 
morning,"  said  his  wife,  "  and  where  do  you  sup- 
pose she  put  it  and  wore  it  as  an  ornament  ?  In 
that  great  hole  bored  through  the  lobe  of  her  ear  ? 
I  really  thought  she  wore  it  so  for  convenience  at 
first,  but  I  was  undeceived  by  her  conscious  looks 
and  the  way  she  turned  her  head  from  side  to  side. 
It  looked  so  absurd," 


THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF.  493 

The  missionary  was  scarcely  listening.  "  I  have 
two  new  inquirers  to-day/'  he  said,  gazing  forth 
with  an  abstracted  air.  "  One  of  them  says  to  me, 
'  When  I  hear  the  word  of  God  and  go  away,  I 
soon  forget  it;  I  feel  sorry,  but  still  I  do  not  obey.' 
Now  is  this  consciousness  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  life  in  that  soul  ?" 

The  rarest  judiciousness  is  required  in  dealing 
with  such  inquirers — to  sift  the  momentary  feeling 
of  alarm  from  the  genuine  desire  of  repentance — to 
know  the  quicksand  from  the  firm  foundation  for 
religious  truth.  Carefully  and  wisely  to  manage 
a  variety  of  characters  and  a  variety  of  impressions 
might  well  take  a  minister's  whole  thought  and 
time.  Stony-ground  nearers  are  plentiful  in  Af- 
rica, who  receive  the  word  with  joy  for  a  while 
and  as  surely  fall  away.  Mr.  Owen  deemed  that 
baptism  should  be  for  none  but  the  truly  converted 
to  God,  and  there  was  no  matter  in  which  he  felt 
more  the  need  of  divine  discrimination  and  more 
utter  distrust  of  himself  and  his  own  judgment. 

When  the  evening  meal  was  over  und  the  family 
prayer,  this  husband  and  wife  sat  still  in  the  veil 
of  the  vine-leaves,  enjoying  the  happiness  of  con- 
verse upon  such  things  as  we  have  indicated.  It 
ehall  be  our  last  look  of  them,  while  the  starry 


494  THE  FOUNTAIN  KLOOF. 

Southern  Cross  sweeps  slowly  toward  the  zenith 
amid  a  hundred  attendant  constellations — supreme 
emblem,  reminding  the  happy  exiles  nightly  of 
that  glory-giving  faith  for  which  they  have  left 
friends  and  home,  and  wherein  they  find  their  ex- 
ceeding great  reward. 


THE   KND. 


•    •     •       •       HI     II      ||     I     I      || 

A     000051  710    2 


